Jelly Belly to Discuss American Sugar Reform With Rick Santorum

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Mar 27, 2012, 06:40 ET

FAIRFIELD, Calif., March 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Jelly Belly Candy Company looks forward to discussing sugar reform with presidential candidate Rick Santorum when he visits our Fairfield factory on Thursday, March 29. Our company is representative of U.S. small business generally and the more than 500 small- or medium-sized candy companies in the U.S. specifically – many of which are family-run operations like Jelly Belly.

Sugar, unlike everything else Americans buy, does not operate in a free market system thanks to government policy that artificially inflates the price and limits the supply. Current American sugar policy destroys American manufacturing jobs and puts a heavy burden on manufacturers and tax payers. We urge all presidential or congressional candidates to support reforming the U.S. sugar program. In this economic climate, the government should look for ways to support small businesses, not provide protections for any one industry.

Did you know that Americans pay twice as much for sugar than any other country? This sugar subsidy provides an outdated form of protection for the sugar-production industry. We encourage reforming the American sugar policy, a change that currently has bipartisan support of 72 representatives in the U.S. Congress. We stand with the National Confectioners Association, other candy companies and other sugar-using food manufacturers in saying that the time is now to eliminate this burdensome and unworkable program.

In recent years, the confection industry has suffered sugar shortages and price instabilities that have included astronomically rising prices that damage our ability to meet basic operating costs. For our company and others like us, these fluctuations are so unpredictable that we "eat the costs," thereby reducing profitability and operations. This leads to layoffs. In the last 15 years, more than 125,000 jobs have been lost in the sugar-using industries, and the American sugar program is a major contributing factor.

We are proud to be an American-made product. The family who runs our company has been making candy in America since 1869, and each generation of the family since then has been dedicated to making the finest confections. Jelly Belly looks forward to sharing first-hand information about our struggles to operate within this counterproductive program with Rick Santorum when he visits the company on Thursday. Jelly Belly extends an open invitation to other politicians and candidates to tour our facility and learn more about the much-needed reform to the American sugar policy.

For more information about sugar reform, please visit www.sugarreform.org.

SOURCE Jelly Belly Candy Company