NJ Food council Champions The Industry

New Jersey Business, Feb 01, 2002

The Trenton-based New Jersey Food Council (NJFC) has, for the past 33 years, advanced the food industry by conducting programs in research, education, trade relations and public affairs on behalf of its 100-plus retail food organizations with 1,200 retail food operations in the state. The NJFC, founded in 1969, is headed by President James "Jim" C. Morford, a well-respected executive and lobbyist who has spent a decade each with the New Jersey Education Association, the State Chamber of Commerce and this nonprofit trade association. William "Bill" Sumas, executive vice president of Village Super Market, Inc., which operates 23 ShopRite stores and employs 3,400 workers, is chairman.

All of the state's major supermarket and convenience store chains are members of the Food Council, as are some 200 associate members, many of which are the largest and most prestigious companies in America. Morford, a Ewing resident, has a small staff, including Linda M. Doherty, vice president, who works a great deal with the State Administration and the regulatory agencies, and Michael K. Drulis, associate director of government affairs. The others include: Lorraine V. Webster, office manager , Holiday Montuoro, secretary; and Alice Kovacs, financial manager. Steve Picco of Reed Smith is counsel. Backing up Chairman Sumas are: Vice Chairman Alan Levitan, Kings Super Markets; Treasurer Joseph Moran, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company: Secretary James J. McCaffrey III, McCaffrey's Markets; and Morford. A 32-member board of directors meets six times a year to determine policy and strategy.

"We're very pro-active," says Morford, "in a lot of our endeavors, rather than reactive." The Food Council has been a successful advocate on legislative and regulatory issues affecting its members and the mutual interests of their supplier partners. The NJFC organized a subcommittee of members who, along with state and local health officials, developed a voluntary set of measurable standards for food safety training in New Jersey and is the first of its kind in the nation.

The NJFC, Rutgers University and The New Jersey Departments of Health and Labor put together a sixhour course on "Food Handlers Best Practices in Food Safety," that features a study manual, a CDROM power point presentation and distribution of digital thermometers to all participants. The NJFC a few months ago received a $180,000 grant by the State Department of Labor to train Council members' entry-level associates on food handling techniques.

Morford observes that for more than a decade, time-strapped consumers have been buying foods that need more complicated levels of in-store preparation and processing. Since consumers are purchasing more prepackaged food items rather than cooking entire meals at home, and that they demand more fresh products, the industry has responded with this program.

An issue high on the NJFC's agenda this year is the "Clean Communities" program. The NJFC had lobbied for this bill since 1995. The Whitman administration early in 2000 signed the bill which helps communities fund recycling and anti-litter. On December 31, 2000, the litter tax, which funds the Clean Communities program, expired. NJFC is an active member of the Clean Communities Council, Inc., which seeks to educate the public about anti-littering and a cleaner New Jersey. An anti-litter tax is preferrable to a bottle bill.

The NJFC, like the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, is adamantly against a legislative movement to enact a paid family leave bill. The Food Council's position is that such a bill would devastate the already weakened and over-stretched labor force in the food industry. "Unlike state and federal unpaid family leave laws which apply to companies of 50 or more, companies that employ as few as two people would be forced to let employees leave with pay for 12 weeks, paralyzing business," he says. "This would lead to double jeopardy because business would be forced to pay for a substitute workforce to replace paid absentee employees."

In addition, he points out, such a measure would misuse hundreds of millions of dollars from a dedicated fund established to support workers who lose their jobs during an economic downturn. The demand for benefits under such a bill might well exceed $400 million, he points out.

The NJFC provides its members with a quarterly newsletter, Express Line, edited by Doherty, which keeps them up-to-date on things that impact the industry. In a recent issue, Governor James E. McGreevey said he would "pursue efficient congestion-reducing measures like the installation of turn lanes." He touched on a number of other issues. 'Well before electricity rate caps are lifted in the summer of 2003, the state needs to review the energy deregulation law. We need to work to shield businesses and consumers from rate shock when utilities seek to recover 'deferred balances' that are projected to approach $2 billion."

Morford was the architect in 2000 of the NJFC Energy Aggregation, in which participating members realized projected savings of some $20 million over the course of the 14-month supply contract. The competitive market has not materialized and everyone is waiting to see what happens when price caps come off. But, the Food Council has its mechanism in place and is ready to move forward.