Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

CINCINNATI - Chiquita Brands International Inc. today filed in Federal Court in Cincinnati a Pre-Arranged Plan of Reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

MINEOLA, N.Y. - Pollio Italian Cheese Company on Friday recalled certain Polly-O ricotta cheese packages and some foodservice ricotta products because of potential contamination from Salmonella bacteria.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Union's highest court today rejected demands from UK supermarket giant Tesco for the right to import Levi's jeans from the United States, the BBC reported.

California grocery chain Trader Joe's has agreed to ban genetically modified ingredients from its thousands of private-label products in response to consumer pressure, the Los Angeles Times reported today.

LONDON - A bomb exploded in the parking lot at a Tesco store in Thailand, the BBC reported today. It was the third time the UK retailer's Thai subsidiaries had been targeted since July.

WASHINGTON - Congress is considering restoring food stamps to legal immigrants who stopped receiving benefits in the 1996 welfare overhaul, The Associated Press reported today.

CINCINNATI - Chiquita Brands International Inc. today announced that it has reached agreements with bondholder committees in support of a restructuring plan that will reduce Chiquita's debt and accrued interest by more than $700 million and its future annual interest expense by about $60 million.

BUDA, Texas - H-E-B supermarkets have discontinued handing out game tokens while a federal agency investigates a claim of a child nearly choking on one of the coins.