Jan 3, 2006 9:15 AM, from staff and wire reports

Netherlands-based supermarket giant Royal Ahold plans to eliminate about 700 jobs nationwide from its US Foodservice Inc food distribution subsidiary. The parent company of Tops Markets, Giant Food, and Stop & Shop grocery stores is trying to help US Foodservice recover from an accounting scandal that affected its profits. In 2003, Ahold overstated earnings by US $1.1 billion.

US Foodservice Inc, based in Columbia MD, is the second-largest food distributor in the United States after Sysco Corp. The jobs to be cut comprise around 2.4% of US Foodservice’s workforce, with about 500 of the positions administrative.

As part of reorganizing its food distribution operations, US Foodservice Chief Executive Larry Benjamin said that by 2008 he plans to trim expenses by $100 million.