NNFA Sued Over Allegedly Tainted Voting Results

MELVILLE, NY—Supplement maker Natural Organics Inc., based here, and Tulsa, OK-based Health Food Associates, dba Akin’s Natural Foods Market, filed suit in Chicago in September against the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA) alleging voting irregularities at NNFA’s July annual meeting in Las Vegas.

The suit charges that opponents of proposed bylaw Amendment 21 solicited illegal irrevocable proxies that were voted as a block in opposition to the amendment and against an independent slate of board candidates that would otherwise have been elected to the NNFA board had Amendment 21 passed.

The amendment required supply-division and at-large retailer representatives on NNFA’s board to be elected by the membership at large. The suit calls for a recount of votes without the irrevocable proxies. Natural Organics CEO Gerald Kessler was an independent-slate board candidate.