Big Sugar and Candy Make Nice in Washington Lobbying War Detente

The bitter decades-long feud between Big Sugar and Big Candy began to ease in a conference room at Washington’s Four Seasons hotel, where more than 40 lobbyists faced off, divided by a table and trays of pastries.

The deal that emerged more than a year later is an incremental step toward scaling back an entrenched government program that costs US food manufacturers and grocery shoppers as much as $3.5 billion per year, according to data compiled by the Government Accountability Office.

It also marked a rare concession from one of Washington’s most powerful lobbying groups — Big Sugar.

The hard-fought ...