SFA Urges EPA to Revise Food-to-Fuel Mandates

June 23, 2008 – In comments co-signed by six other national industry organizations, the SFA today urged the Environmental Protection Agency to revise the food-to-fuel mandates included in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 in an effort to ease upward pressure on the price of food and commodities.

“Although there are many factors contributing to the sharp increase in US and global food prices – including increasing global food demand, export restrictions, adverse weather and higher energy prices – a significant new factor, and the only factor affecting food and feed prices that is under the control of the Administration, is the federal food-to-fuel mandate diverting food into fuel production,” the letter said. “We urge the Administrator to freeze federal food-to-fuel mandates for 2008 and 2009 at the US production level for 2007.”

The comments, filed in support of a request by Texas Gov. Rick Perry for a waiver of renewable fuel standards (RFS), pointed out that the rapid expansion of corn ethanol and bio-diesel has increased demand for corn and vegetable oils and the price of foods made from those product as well as other crops that compete with corn and soybeans for acres. Between 2006 and 2008, US corn ethanol production accounted for 75 percent of the growth in global demand for course grain and 50 percent of the growth in demand for all grains, the letter said. 

In addition to SFA, the comments were signed by the American Beverage Association, Grocery Manufacturers of America, the International Foodservice Distributors Association, National Council of Chain Restaurants, National Restaurant Association, and the National Retail Federation.

The document pointed out that since the 2005-2006 crop year, farm-level corn prices have increased more than 150 percent, and farm-level soybean prices by more than 100 percent. “A surge in corn ethanol production has contributed to unprecedented increases in prices, which have contributed in turn to high feed and food prices,” it said, predicting that the price of corn, which jumped from $2.06 in 2004-05 to $6 in April 2008, will remain high for several years. Food prices, meanwhile, are now rising at twice the overall rate of inflation.

SFA members can review the entire document by clicking here.

It’s All About Sweets & Snacks

A strong contingent of SFA member companies attended and exhibited at the All Candy Expo held in Chicago May 20-22, reaching out to thousands of buyers and other industry professionals from around the world. SFA was represented at the show by Chairman Daryl Thomas, President Jim McCarthy and Vice President Chris Clark.

Tom Brown, head snackmaster, (left) and Rudi Fischer, vice president of sales, at Lesser Evil Brand Snack Co. promoted their products in a booth festooned with red, white and blue and cardboard cutouts of the presidential candidates.

(Continued, please click HERE)

SNAXPO 2008 Draws Industry Execs Worldwide

SNAXPO 2008, the annual convention and exposition by the Snack Food Association (SFA) was held March 1-4, 2008 in San Antonio, TX, with industry executives from across the nation and 35 countries participating in the largest trade show created specifically for the snack food industry.

Held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, SNAXPO opened with an all-day Latin American Educational Program presented in Spanish, featuring discussions of industry trends, developments and issues of concern. The day concluded with a lively Western Party at the famed Buckhorn Museum & Saloon, where a country-western band entertained as armadillos raced and a Texas cowboy lassoed guests.

Keynote speaker on Sunday, March 2 was former Rep. J.C. Watts, now a business consultant, who discussed the ongoing presidential election campaigns and key issues involved. He urged SFA members to involve themselves in the association’s government relations efforts, including SnackPAC, the political action committee. (continued, please click HERE)

SFA Seeks Action on Commodity Prices

SFA Chairman Daryl Thomas and President & CEO Jim McCarthy went to Capitol Hill Wednesday, March 12 to urge Congressional action that could help to alleviate the skyrocketing commodity prices that are affecting snack food companies across the nation.

McCarthy and Thomas, senior vice president, sales and marketing at Herr’s Foods Inc., Nottingham, PA, met with Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senator's key staff and members of the Bush Administration to express SFA’s concerns about increasing prices of corn, wheat and soybeans among other commodities.

They also urged Congress to carefully consider the needs of the domestic food industry when supplies of wheat and other commodities drop to dangerously low levels. “Low commodity stocks in the U.S. leave too much to chance, as even a slight weather or transportation problem could lead to possible serious global food shortages,” the two SFA leaders said.

SFA TO LAUNCH SNACK WORLD, A NEW QUARTERLY MAGAZINE.  Click HERE for the first issue!

ARLINGTON, VA, January 23, 2008 – The Snack Food Association (SFA), an international association representing the snack and convenience foods industry, today announced it will begin publishing a new quarterly magazine, Snack World, in partnership with Sosland Publishing Company, Kansas City, MO.

The new magazine will reprise the association’s previous monthly magazine by the same name that had been published for many years, but was replaced in 1999 with a special section in Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery magazine.

In a letter to members, SFA officials said the new stand-alone publication “will include news and in-depth articles about the key issues affecting the snack food industry and important SFA programs and member services.”

“Publishing a quarterly, stand-alone SFA magazine will better enable SFA to address the major issues affecting the industry, and it will allow SFA to better promote association programs and services as well as those of our members,” explained the letter signed by SFA President & CEO James A. McCarthy; SFA Chairman Tom Dempsey, President, Utz Quality Foods, Inc.; and Past SFA Chairman Rich Rudolph, President, Rudolph’s Foods Co., Inc.

As the official magazine of SFA, Snack World will be available to SFA members and associate members, both domestic and international, including any member company personnel who wish to subscribe. “We’re confident that this in-depth, stand alone Snack World will be the perfect complement to our continuing weekly ‘must read’ electronic Snack Report,” the letter said.

The inaugural issue of Snack World will feature a complete report on SNAXPO 2008, to be held March 1-4 in San Antonio, TX, as well as a special profile of a prominent SFA member company, an update on important governmental developments, and other news and features.

To learn more about advertising opportunities in Snack World, please click HERE.

SFA Testifies Against Maryland Snack Tax

SFA President & CEO Jim McCarthy testified last Saturday, Nov. 3, before the Maryland House of Delegates Ways and Means Committee, expressing SFA's strong opposition to House Bill 39, a proposal to selectively tax snack foods. He was joined by the Aberdeen, MD Frito-Lay plant manager. McCarthy and SFA Vice Chairman Daryl Thomas, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Herr Foods, Inc., personally urged Maryland legislators not to pursue the bill. SFA wishes to thank members who responded to last week's request asking them to contact state lawmakers in opposition to the proposal, which would extend the state sales tax to many snack food products, including those sold in vending machines. For a Baltimore Sun column opposing the tax, click HERE.

SFA Members, please click HERE for additional information and resources. Or, contact SFA President & CEO Jim McCarthy at 703-836-4500, ext. 201.

In his testimony, McCarthy pointed out that in 1996, the Maryland Assembly eliminated the state’s original tax on snack foods, and that other jurisdictions around the country, including California, Maine and Washington, DC, have also have repealed their snack taxes. “Currently, there are no states that single out snack foods for taxation,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy told the lawmakers that snack food companies, SFA members, which sell, manufacturer products, and employ many people in Maryland, strongly oppose the proposal.

“The experiment with selective taxation of foods like snacks has been disastrous,” McCarthy said. “California, the first state to enact a snack tax in 1991, tried to devise a tax on some foods they considered snacks while leaving other similar snacks untaxed.” The result was confusion among retailers and consumers.

McCarthy also pointed out that a snack tax is regressive because it diminishes the purchasing power of lower income consumers, and is arbitrary. “Many foods that are much higher in fat, sodium and calories are left untaxed as a result,” he said. “For example, why isn’t Brie cheese or liver pate also taxed?”

Lawmakers were urged by McCarthy “to consider the negative ramifications of this kind of taxation before Maryland heads down this wrong path again.”

SFA Urges Changes in Food Safety Legislation

SFA and other food industry groups have urged Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, to modify food safety legislation now under consideration. In a letter to Dingell, the industry groups opposed imposition of user fees on shipments of imported food, as well as provisions that they said would undermine the Food and Drug Administration's ability to address food safety risks and place restraints on commerce without improving food safety.

While the letter stressed that the industry groups support providing FDA with increased resources, it pointed out that all Americans benefit from improvements in food safety and that the costs of FDA inspections and research should be paid from general tax revenue, not new user fees imposed on food importers. They also warned that the proposed fee “likely violates” U.S. trade agreements, invites reciprocal fees on U.S. exports, and would unfairly impact specific food products.

The industry groups also oppose provisions that would permit a private right of action against food companies and retailers, and expressed “deep concern” that other provisions, including those imposing new requirements for labeling, traceability, certification, civil penalties, process controls, quarterly inspections and steps to restrict food imports to a limited number of ports. Such action “would place enormous new burdens on FDA, food importers, and the food industry and would dramatically increase food prices without addressing the sources of contamination,” the letter said.

Facts, Choices, and Challenges:
Energy Facts We Can All Agree On

Peter Ueberroth, Top Business Experts, Address SFA Executive Leadership Forum

Over 100 snack food industry leaders, including snack food manufacturers and suppliers, attended the 2006 Executive Leadership Forum, held at the Montage Resort in Laguna Beach, California.

Each year SFA brings member company Presidents and CEOs together to meet and discuss the latest issues affecting the snack food industry and hear from experts about the latest issues about business leadership. This was the 30th annual executive program, formerly known as the SFA Top Management Seminar, renamed to better reflect the purpose of the meeting.

Ueberroth, who serves on the Board of the Boys and Girls Club in Southern California, also presented SFA President & CEO Jim McCarthy and Barry Levin, Owner, Snak King Corp., who was Chair of the 2006 Executive Leadership Forum, with a contribution to the Boys and Girls Club. McCarthy is a former Board member of the Greater Washington Boys & Girls Club.

John Bridgeland, former Assistant to President George W. Bush, and now President & CEO of Civic Enterprises, a public policy firm that helps organizations, nonprofits, foundations, universities and governments develop and spearhead innovative public policies to strengthen our communities and country, discussed his experiences in the White House, including on September 11, 2001. In his work at Civic Enterprises, Bridgeland works on issues ranging from homeland security and tropical forest conservation to education and civic management.

Scott Bornstein, Knowledge Management Systems, taught attendees how they can unlock the brain’s powerhouse abilities to recall names, faces and other crucial details-both short-term and long-term memory-using Bornstein “Big 5” techniques. And Barry Glassner, author of 7 books on contemporary social issues and Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern California, discussed how America’s news, marketing strategies and politicians have fostered many of society’s misperceptions and false fears.

Finally, as part of the program there was a special SnackPAC reception. Guest was Dick Castner, Executive Director of the Western Regional Office at the US Chamber of Commence. Castner briefed SnackPAC contributors about the upcoming election and what affect the elections would have on business. SFA works closely with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on business issues and lobbying efforts.

The Executive Leadership Committee, led by Chairman Barry Levin, developed this year’s program. For more information about the SFA Executive Leadership Forum, please contact Liz Wells at 703-836-4500 ext. 202.

SFA Day in DC Called ‘Very Valuable,’ as Members Take Concerns to Feds

SFA members who participated in SFA's Day in DC, May 16-18, 2006 had an opportunity to meet personally with top decision-makers in Washington May 16-18 and ask for their help on key issues that can affect their company’s bottom line.

“These are people who really make the policy; they are the brain trust to the President,” said Tom Howe, president, Baptista’s Bakery, Inc., Franklin, WI, after a special executive briefing by White House staff arranged by SFA for members attending the Day in DC event. “These are people who are making policy that is going to affect our business. This was a very valuable experience.”

The White House briefing by three key Presidential aides came on Thursday morning and followed Wednesday meetings with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns and other top USDA officials and a series of face-to-face meetings on Capitol Hill with key Congressmen and Senators and legislative staff.

“To be able to bring people in our organization here to participate in this experience is essential,” said Mike Schena, general manager, Better Made Snack Foods, Inc., Detroit. “SFA did an outstanding job of organizing this entire event.”

For more Day in DC coverage, including a complete photo gallery, click HERE.

USDA Secretary Mike Johanns addresses the SFA members.

Convenience is King

Snack food companies are looking for ways to capitalize on the consumer’s need for convenience, even as they seek to respond to increased concern about nutrition and health, SFA President & CEO Jim McCarthy told attendees at American Wholesale Marketers Association (AWMA) REAL DEAL EXPO in Las Vegas, NV Friday, March 17. SFA was a co-sponsor of the distributors organization’s convention.

McCarthy, who traced the history of snacks from the origin of the first potato chip to today, said many products, not previously considered snacks, are now being extended by food manufacturers in order to capture snack food sales.The lines are blurring,” McCarthy said. “People are looking for something to just open and eat.” As a result, the snack food industry is seeking to find ways “to get snacking to be considered a meal occasion rather than a snacking occasion.”

At the same time, “Nutrition is key,” the SFA executive said. “It has affected the way we manufacture, market and label our products.”

"In fact, the increased emphasis on whole grains has led the industry to develop snack products—pretzels for example—that help meet the daily whole grain recommendations of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, McCarthy pointed out. “The snack industry is perfectly situated to take advantage of this. Nutrition is really driving the new categories that are coming out.”

In addition, new flavor “profiles,” such as those designed to satisfy various ethnic tastes are being developed, generating excitement and sales growth, McCarthy said.