Products

Jeppi Nut Co. recalling two peanut products Jeppi Nut and Candy Co. says it is voluntarily recalling two products that might contain peanuts produced by a company whose Georgia plant has been linked to a salmonella outbreak. Jeppi, which is based in Timonium, announced yesterday that no illnesses have been reported, but customers are being urged to return the products for a full refund. The products were sold in 1-pound clear plastic bags with a Jeppi label marked either "French Burnt Peanuts" with the UPC code 010288915903 or "Sugar Free Chocolate Covered Peanuts" with the code 010288914906.

WASHINGTON -- Senior members of Congress from both parties are working feverishly on legislation that could give consumers access to lower-cost copies of biotechnology drugs that now cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Prospects for the legislation have increased since Democrats took control of Congress this year. Consumer groups, employers and insurers are lobbying for the bill, which they see as a way to hold down health costs. The proposal faces formidable scientific and political obstacles.

The last time Jon Hyman led a company, he helped turn the golf industry on its head, introducing plastic cleats to replace metal spikes. Now, he's planning a revolution for a similarly staid business: concrete. "This is not a very exciting industry, but we've been able to do things differently," said Hyman, who is chief executive officer of Baltimore-based CeraTech Inc. CeraTech has a technology that seeks to replace the way that cement has been made for nearly 200 years, since English inventor Joseph Aspdin mixed chalk and clay and heated it in a kiln to produce what is now widely known as Portland cement.

For most people, candy and desserts are sweet indulgences to be enjoyed anytime. But for those with diabetes, the sugary temptations can make them sick, very sick.This can be especially difficult for the parents of children with diabetes. They constantly have to monitor what their child is eating, especially during the holidays, when treats seem to be everywhere."It takes over your life," says Joyce Mason of Glen Arm, whose 9-year-old son, Tyler, was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when he was 2. "You don't have a child with diabetes.

Hoping to boost awareness of its brand, Fila U.S.A. Inc. will begin selling products directly to consumers over the Internet, the company said yesterday.Tomorrow, the Sparks-based athletic footwear and apparel company will launch the Fila Store, along with a redesigned Web site.Consumers have been unable to shop for products on Fila's current Web site, which has been up for about a year and a half. Products are sold in specialty athletic stores and department stores.Internet retailing will enhance, rather than compete with, sales at retail stores, said Todd McDonald, Fila's manager of electronic commerce.

ARMONK, N.Y. - John M. Thompson wanted to keep International Business Machines Corp.'s software workers happy.So when the software chief met new employees after IBM agreed to buy Tivoli Systems Inc. in January 1996, he didn't hesitate on a key question: Yes, the Friday beer bashes would continue. In fact, Thompson wrote a personal check to foot the bill.IBM software workers might get more than a few beers today. With hardware sales down, the world's top computer maker is betting more on software, a business it once treated as an afterthought.

NEW YORK -- Revlon Inc., whose namesake brand is the biggest seller in U.S. discount stores and drugstores, said yesterday that it is in talks to sell its Latin American and professional brands for more than $500 million after billionaire financier Ronald Perelman failed to find a buyer for the entire company.Revlon stock fell $6.25, or 34 percent, to $12 in trading of 3.61 million shares, more than 16 times the three-month daily average.Perelman is focusing on those brands that generate 80 percent of sales, including Revlon, Almay and Ultima II cosmetics.

Hoping to stop an alleged pyramid scheme that officials say has bilked about 400 Marylanders out of $2 million, the state's attorney general's office said yesterday that it has joined the federal government and five other states in a lawsuit seeking to halt the company's practices and get back some of the lost money.Equinox International Corp., based in Las Vegas, sells environmentally friendly products such as water filters and skin-care products. The company, which operates in Maryland under the names Infinity Group, World Solutions and Paramount, denied any wrongdoing.

Ross Settles, vice president of marketing for The Baltimore Sun Co., was yesterday named vice president for new business and new product development for Times Mirror Interactive, a recently formed division of the newspaper's parent company.Settles, 40, will direct the division's expansion into new online ventures. He will report to Hilary A. Schneider, Times Mirror Interactive's president and chief executive officer.Based in Baltimore, Times Mirror Interactive was formed this month to manage Web-based products for Times Mirror Co., the Los Angeles-based media company.

Every 18 seconds, another baby boomer turns 50. Even though their AARP cards are in the mail, don't you dare call them "old."Half of them are facing some form of arthritis. They say it's no problem -- don't you dare call it a handicap.Boomers are not the first to put a happy face on aging. It seems to be the American way.At least 80 percent of their parents have at least one chronic condition, yet a third of them assess their health as good or excellent, according to the Statistical Handbook on Aging Americans.

SALARY: $120,000 AGE: 49 YEARS ON THE JOB: 5 How she got started: : Zia Boccaccio, a native of Cuzco, Peru, easily remembers the first time she became interested in alpacas. She was 6 or 7 when she spotted an alpaca on a trip with her family to ancestral land in the Andes Mountains of Peru. She describes the animal as aloof, delicate and beautiful. When she was 21 years old, she married an American and moved to Washington. For about 12 years, she worked as an operational manager for Steilmann European Selection, a German fashion company.

A man whose efforts to open a creamery at his Long Green Valley dairy farm had been thwarted by a few neighbors emerged victorious Thursday when the Baltimore County Council passed a zoning regulation that will allow him to sell organic products from the milk his cows produce. "This bill will support the county's $300 million agricultural industry, help meet our land preservation goals and help farmers supply fresh local produce to patrons," said Chris McCollum, agriculture liaison for the county's department of economic development.

Jeppi Nut Co. recalling two peanut products Jeppi Nut and Candy Co. says it is voluntarily recalling two products that might contain peanuts produced by a company whose Georgia plant has been linked to a salmonella outbreak. Jeppi, which is based in Timonium, announced yesterday that no illnesses have been reported, but customers are being urged to return the products for a full refund. The products were sold in 1-pound clear plastic bags with a Jeppi label marked either "French Burnt Peanuts" with the UPC code 010288915903 or "Sugar Free Chocolate Covered Peanuts" with the code 010288914906.

The makers of cold and cough medicines said yesterday that they will stop marketing over-the-counter remedies to children under 4 - acting amid an extensive federal review of whether the drugs are safe and effective for children under 12. The voluntary decision comes two years after Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein and a group of leading pediatricians petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to stop the sale of the medicines...

Does it look like my good fortune with my H.J. Heinz Co. shares will continue? - F.C., via the Internet Frozen potatoes and soy sauce have never looked so good. The global producer and marketer of packaged foods, led by strong gains of those two popular products, turned in a 12 percent increase in net income in its fiscal first quarter, ended July 30. Sales rose at least 20 percent in every foreign region, producing double-digit earnings that compensated for a slump in sales to U.S. restaurants.

MARK SCHLOTTMAN Sales representative Partsmaster Inc., Aberdeen Salary $60,000 Years on the job Nine How he got started Schlottman said he enjoys sales. Before working for his current company, he sold printing materials for 11 years. Nine years ago, he began working for Dallas-based Partsmaster, selling hardware products to area businesses. Typical day By about 6:30 a.m., Schlottman begins his day planning appointments. He leaves his home office about 7:30 a.m. and estimates he'll check in with four to eight customers before he returns.

After decades of subscribing to the rule of "Buyer beware," policymakers in Washington and business leaders are favoring increased regulation of consumer products, and that's a good thing. The shift was signaled last week when the House passed a bill with bipartisan support that would provide strong new protections for purchasers of children's toys. It would ban some chemical ingredients from products that may be causing dangerous health effects, require third-party testing of some children's products and bolster the Consumer Product Safety Commission's authority to inspect manufacturers' labs.

When several Apple bloggers called attention to Steven P. Jobs' gaunt appearance at the recent WWDC keynote, we were reminded of a fact that few wish to face: Steve Jobs will not head Apple forever. Some speculated that Jobs could be suffering a relapse of the pancreatic cancer for which he had surgery in 2004. An Apple spokeswoman gave The Wall Street Journal the explanation that Jobs merely had a "common bug" and was taking antibiotics. The story percolated on Apple-related blogs as well as financial blogs, contributing to a 7 percent drop in Apple's stock.

WASHINGTON - In an effort to crack down on fraudulent remedies, the government has warned 25 companies to stop selling cancer cures over the Internet that federal health officials say could disrupt legitimate treatment and even harm unsuspecting patients. Food and Drug Administration officials, who announced yesterday that they are investigating fake cancer remedies, said warning letters had been sent to Internet sellers of tablets, lotions and tonics that purport to cure cancer. The firms could have their products seized or face prosecution if they don't stop marketing the products within 15 days, according to the FDA. "Some products may present a direct safety hazard, while others could potentially interfere with medicines that a patient is already taking," said David Elder, director of the FDA's Office of Enforcement.

Philip Tulkoff spent most of his career in engineering and computers. The food manufacturing business started by his Russian immigrant grandparents nearly 80 years ago had only been his high school summer job. So no one was more surprised than Tulkoff, 47, when he was asked three years ago to take over as chief executive of Baltimore-based Tulkoff Food Products Inc., best known for its horseradish and related products. "It totally came out of the blue," Tulkoff said. "I really had to learn everything."