On July 8 nearly 200 people gathered to celebrate AFI’s 100th anniversary at The Roosevelt Hotel in New York. Attendees enjoyed a fun-filled evening of reminiscing, music, dining and recognition of the many leaders in the industry who’ve helped AFI reach this milestone.

AFI received letters of congratulations from New York Governor George Pataki, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New Jersey Legislature. Additionally, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine proclaimed July 8 as Association of Food Industries Day in New Jersey.

Additional photos of this grand event are available on www.afius.org and will be available shortly on CDs.

A successful effort by AFI will result in duty savings on capers and pepperoncini of more than $2 million per year. The changes go into effect September 2.

Capers, currently brought in under HTS#s 2001.9010 and 2001.9020 and subject to a duty of 8 percent, will become duty free and should be entered using HTS#s 9902.10.28 and 9902.10.26 respectively.

Pepperoncini is currently brought in under HTS#s 2001.903800 (9.6 percent duty), and 2005.905510 (14.9 percent duty). The bill suspends duties on pepperoncini and giardiniera prepared or preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid and reduces to 2.2 percent the duty on pepperoncini prepared or preserved by vinegar or acetic acid in concentrations at 0.5 percent or greater (2001.903800). The new HTS#s to use are 9902.10.29 (currently 2001.903800) and 9902.10.27 for pepperoncini prepared or preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid and 9902.10.30 for giardiniera prepared or preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid.

The duty reductions/suspension will be in place through December 31, 2009. In order to keep the changes in place, AFI will have to get a measure included on the 2008 MTB that will extend the changes for another three years.

That step is being taken now to extend the duty reductions we obtained on processed artichokes. That measure will be included on the MTB, as will bills to suspend duties on canned oysters (HTS# 1605.90.50) and more giardiniera and pepperoncini, which are currently brought in under several HTS numbers. It’s fully expected the MTB will pass before the year ends.

Many thanks to Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg for helping AFI achieve another victory.

The 2007 AFI Convention will take place April 26-29 at the Resort at Longboat Key Club in Longboat Key, Florida. Special mailings and future AFI Newsletters will provide all the details. Be sure to mark your calendars now!

AFI will host a reception at SIAL in Paris, France. Be sure to mark your calendar for Oct. 22. The reception will be held at 6 p.m. in the Paris Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center. Information has been sent to all members and is available at www.afius.org or by contacting the AFI office.

Members importing product currently eligible for duty-free treatment through the Generalize System of Preferences program are reminded the program is due to expire Dec. 31. Unlike in other years, there’s a real chance the program will not be renewed at all, may not be renewed retroactively as was done in the past or will be renewed with significant changes. The program has become a weapon in the U.S. effort to conclude a Doha Round agreement. Key lawmakers have threatened to kill the program altogether because they believe its largest beneficiaries have been antagonistic to U.S. interests in the WTO negotiations.

The United States Trade Representative announced it’s seeking written comments on whether to limit, suspend or completely withdraw GSP benefits from 13 of the program’s largest users - Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, and Venezuela. These countries each exported more than $100 million in goods to the United States under GSP in 2005. In addition, these countries are either classified as “upper-middle-income” countries by the World Bank or account for more than 0.25 percent of world goods exports, as reported by the World Trade Organization.

As it did in the past, AFI is participating in the Coalition for GSP, which consists of companies and associations from many industries. We will continue to keep members apprised of developments related to GSP.

A new law requires cash deposits to cover the estimated antidumping and countervailing duties for product from new shippers of product subject to an AD or CVD order.

Effective Aug. 17 for all new shipper reviews except those involving goods from Canada or Mexico, Customs will collect a cash deposit of estimated AD and CV duties on each entry of subject merchandise entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption. Customs will also require a cash deposit for subject merchandise that was entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after April 1, for which a bond was collected as security.

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is revising the U.S. standards for grades of canned sweet potatoes to reflect newer varieties, new sorting techniques and canning processes. The petitioners requested AMS revise the definition of the style of “Whole” – in particular, the “Beauregard” variety – a variety now widely used in canned sweet potatoes which is oddly shaped and must be cut and trimmed to give the appearance of a whole sweet potato. This variety may or may not be tapered on one end and because of mechanical trimming may not meet the definition of whole.

The current definition for the style of “Whole” states that, “whole means the canned sweet potatoes have the appearance of being essentially whole or almost whole in that the units retain the approximate shape of whole sweet potatoes.” The petitioners want AMS to revise the definition for canned whole sweet potatoes to allow for those that are cylindrical in shape, two inches plus or minus 0.5 inches in length, by 1.5 inches plus or minus 0.25 inches in diameter for 404 x 307 and 603 x 700 can sizes and 1.0 inch plus or minus 0.25 inches in diameter for smaller can sizes.

A copy of the proposed grade standards is available on http://www.ams.usda.gov/fv/ppb.html or by contacting AFI.

FDA guidance states that the agency has “no basis for concluding that bioengineered foods differ from other foods in any meaningful or uniform way, or that, as a class, foods developed by the new techniques present any different or greater safety concern than foods developed by traditional plant breeding.”

FDA does not generally allow food labeling such as “GMO-free” because this would imply that the absence of bioengineering makes a product safer or superior to comparable products. FDA has indicated that statements about foods that do not contain ingredients produced from bioengineered foods could avoid or minimize such implication by using the following statement: “We do not use ingredients that were produced using biotechnology.”

FDA does, however, allow manufacturers to use informative statements in labeling of foods that contain ingredients produced from bioengineered foods, e.g., “Genetically engineered” or “This product contains cornmeal that was produced using biotechnology.” These statements are optional. However, if a bioengineered food is different in any way from the food it resembles (e.g, nutritional, organoleptic, or functional characteristics), then FDA requires that the label states how the food is different. The example FDA cites is high oleic acid soybean oil from soybeans developed using biotechnology to decrease the amount of saturated fat.

FDA’s bottom line on GMO labeling (as on all food labeling) is that a food cannot be misbranded in any way. A food is misbranded if its labeling is false or misleading.

Mitsui Foods, Inc. (MFI) announced that it has signed an asset purchase agreement with Hartog Foods Inc, a leading company in the global processed fruit and vegetable products trade.

Hartog Foods will be integrated into MFI’s newly created Ingredients Division. The Ingredients Division will focus its procurement and sales efforts in the ingredients and raw materials arena, particularly juice concentrates, organic juices and fruit products, essences, purees, citrus oils and flavor ingredients.

Gene Grant will lead the Ingredients Division. Hired recently as vice president and general manager of the Ingredients Division, Grant brings with him more than 19 years of experience in the global ingredients industry. Gene has previously held successful management positions at Givaudan Flavors and The Coca-Cola Co.

Jack Hartog Jr., who will report to Grant, will continue as vice president and general sales manager of the Hartog division, said, “The enhanced depth and breadth of the combined entity of MFI and Hartog Foods assures that we will continue to provide the food and beverage industries with unsurpassed quality and customer service, as we have done for more than 40 years. In a dynamic global marketplace, we look forward to the new opportunities this presents for innovation and efficiency.”

In other MFI news, the company signed an exclusive distributorship agreement with Yantai North Andre Juice Co., Ltd. (YNA), a leading Chinese processor in the apple and pear concentrate and by-product industry. This agreement provides MFI with exclusive distribution in the United States and Canada for YNA’s apple juice concentrate, pear juice concentrate and apple essence.

New Members

The following companies were approved for membership in the North American Olive Oil Association at the NAOOA Annual Meeting on July 7.

NAOOA Regular

Olivos USA, Inc., Secaucus, NJ - producer of organic and conventional extra virgin olive oil, pure olive oil, extra light olive oil and olive pomace oil

J.M. Smucker Co. (Crisco), Orrville, OH. Manufacturer of preserves, jams, oils, peanut butter, flour, baking mixes.

NAOOA Associate

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., New York, NY - banking & investing

Our goal with the new layout of the AFI Newsletter is to make it a quick read, with information segmented for quick reference. The new look of the AFI Newsletter will continue to evolve. We welcome your feedback and suggestions.

AFI will host a reception at SIAL at 6 p.m. on October 22 in Paris, France.

The Mid-Year Meeting of the North American Olive Oil Association will take place January 19 in San Francisco.

The 2007 AFI Convention will take place April 26-29 at the Resort at Longboat Key Club, Longboat Key, Fla.