2015 Year in Review: Top Stories in Government Relations

By: Kelli Windsor, Manager, Member and Digital Communications, Food Marketing Institute

Government relations activities in the food retail industry had significant cross-over with the Food Safety Modernization Act and other regulatory issues, such as chain restaurant menu labeling, but blog readers in 2015 were much more interested in the challenges associated with employees, country of origin labeling requirements and payments systems.  

Top Government Relations Blogs

With “Ban the Box,” Employers Are Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Should a box appear on a job application, requesting the solicitant to check whether or not they have a criminal history?  Over 100 cities and counties and 19 states have adopted what are known as “ban the box” laws. These initiatives typically seek to remove the question (or “box”) on the job application about an individual’s conviction history (i.e., “ban the box”), and to delay the background check inquiry until later in the hiring process; generally, after the first interview, or following a conditional offer of employment.

What We Can Learn from Country of Origin Labeling and the WTO

Perhaps the most frustrating part of this process – which has dragged on for more than six years – is that some of COOL’s most vociferous supporters are expressing surprise at this turn of events.  For the food wholesale and retail community, the WTO’s decision is not surprising at all – we predicted this very outcome as far back as 2002, when Congress passed country of origin labeling into law.  It was clear from the start that COOL was poorly designed and violated our obligations under the rules-based global trading system.

Two Days and Counting… EMV Ready or Not

This Thursday, October 1, marks the liability shift date for merchants to be EMV-enabled and for issuers to have chip cards available in the market.  As grocers, you know that if you are not EMV-enabled by Thursday, you will be saddled with counterfeit card fraud costs if the card presented is actually chip-enabled.