Food Business News - May 7, 2013 - 13

Food groups push back against
user fees to fund food safety law

WASHINGTON — An April 17 letter to Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Senator Roy
Blunt of Missouri, the chairman and ranking
member of the Appropriations Subcommittee
for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and
Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, respectively, and signed by 54 food and beverage
industry trade associations, outlined why user
fees should not be used to fund the Food Safety
Modernization Act. Two new user fees were included in President Barack Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal 2014.
Calling user fees “food regulatory taxes,” the
letter said that if the F.D.A. requires additional
funds to support F.S.M.A. implementation and
food inspection activities, the agency should request such funding through the appropriations
process rather than seeking authorization of new

user fees, which the trade groups noted Congress
has repeatedly rejected.
“Over the past five years, F.D.A. has been one
of the few federal agencies to receive discretionary funding increases through the annual appropriations process,” the letter said. “In fact, Congress provided approximately $12.8 million in the
recently passed F.Y. 2013 continuing resolution to
support F.D.A.’s implementation of F.S.M.A.”
The two new user fees would be collected from
food importers and users of the F.D.A.’s food contact notification program. The food import user
fee would allow the F.D.A. to collect an estimated
$166 million and feature exemptions for small importers and a maximum charge for large importers. The food contact notification user fee would
generate an estimated $4,548,000.
The president’s proposed budget also includes
the food establishment registration and inspection
user fee, which was required under the F.S.M.A.
“As food and beverage companies and consumers continue to cope with a period of prolonged economic turbulence, the creation of a
new food tax would burden food makers with
higher costs and consumers with higher food
prices,” the food groups said in the letter. “We
urge Congress to provide F.D.A. with sufficient
funds to meet its food safety responsibilities
without saddling food makers and consumers
with new regulatory taxes.” FBN

WhiteWave Foods to
expand Virginia plant

JBS adds ground beef
production facility

MOUNT CRAWFORD, VA. — The WhiteWave
Foods Co. plans to invest $69.8 million to expand
its beverage processing plant in Mount Crawford.
The plant currently manufactures Silk, Horizon
Organic, International Delight and Land O’Lakes
products. The expansion project will include a
new warehouse and
equipment.
“At WhiteWave, we
are focused on investing in our Mount Crawford facility in response
to increased consumer
demand for our Silk,
Horizon Organic, International Delight and
Land O’ Lakes products,” said Jim Peacock, vice-president of
supply chain at WhiteWave. FBN

GREELEY, COLO. — JBS USA, a subsidiary of
Brazil-based JBS S.A., has opened a ground beef
plant and distribution center at the JBS beef plant
in Tolleson, Ariz.
“Our innovative ground beef operation was
carefully designed to respond and expand quickly

May 7, 2013

to our customers’ growing needs,” said Bill Rupp,
president and chief operating officer of JBS USA
Beef. “We are excited to provide high-quality,
ground beef to our retail, food service and distribution customers.”
The new facility will produce items for the
company’s Cedar River Farms Natural Beef and
Showcase Premium Ground Beef brands. Operations began in mid-April. FBN

Acquisitions drive
quarterly earnings
for B&G Foods
PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Base
business volume gains and
acquisition growth lifted
net income 17% for B&G
Foods, Inc. in the first quarter of fiscal 2013.
For the quarter ended
March 30, net income was
$19,634,000, equal to 37c per
share on the common stock,
up from $16,778,000, or 35c

per share, during the same
quarter of the previous year.
Net sales were $171,194,000,
up 9% from $157,339,000.
The New York Style and
Old London businesses,
which were acquired in October 2012, performed to
expectations, contributing
$11.3 million to the quarter’s
net sales, according to the
company. B&G Foods plans
to overhaul the snack brands
with a focus on all-natural,
said David Wenner, president
and chief executive officer.
“We are rapidly redoing
packaging and reformulating
some of the products in the
line, as well as creating new
display pieces to better compete in the deli section,” Mr.
Wenner said in an April 18
call with financial analysts to
discuss first-quarter earnings.
The company also is introducing a full pipeline
from its top-tier brands, including a re-launch of Mrs.
Dash marinades, an extension of Mrs. Dash seasoning packets, new Cream of
Wheat and Ortega products
and more Emeril’s pasta
sauce offerings.
Growth in the base business during the quarter
came from the top two
tiers of brands, boosted by
gains from Cream of Wheat
and Ortega and modest,
steady growth from maple
syrup and salad dressing
businesses. FBN

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Food Business News - May 7, 2013

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