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Good afternoon, I'm Fred Flieler, the Director of Potato 

 Purchasing for Frito-Lay, Inc., the nation's leading snack food 

 company with 26,000 employees nation wide, manufacturing over 

 100 product lines. Thank you for this opportunity to comment on 

 a proposed amendment to the Plant Variety Protection Act that 

 will extend coverage to potatoes. Two of our most successful 

 product lines are LAY'S and RUFFLES brand potato chips, which 

 will use 2.5 billion pounds of potatoes in their manufacture this 

 year. We purchase directly from nearly 200 potato growers in 35 

 states each year to meet our contract needs. Since 1958, 

 Frito-Lay has maintained a research program dedicated to the 

 development of new varieties suitable for the manufacture of 

 potato chips, annually crossing 80,000 or more new potato plants, 



to select for improved traits. 



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