Food Marketing group spent $280K on Q1 lobbying

Washington, D.C. The Food Marketing Institute, whose members include Safeway and Kroger Co., spent $280,000 in the first quarter to lobby on retail crime, credit-card fees, food inspections and other issues, according to a recent disclosure report.

That's a significant drop from the $1.1 million that the group spent in the year-ago period and the $880,000 it spent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

The trade group also lobbied energy issues, tax relief and the federal budget.

Besides Congress, the group lobbied the Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and others in the January-through-March period, according to the report filed April 20 with the House clerk's office.