COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Attorney General Jim Petro has awarded the Ohio Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs with $197,761 in funds from a recent antitrust settlement involving the food preservative Sorbates. "Through the exceptional services that this organization provides, thousands of Ohio's children will now benefit from the Sorbates settlement," Petro says. The terms of the $500,000 settlement require that the funds must be distributed to organizations who will use them to "fund nutrition-related programs benefiting Ohioans."The settlement stems from a complaint filed on Oct. 30, 2002, in the Franklin County Common Pleas Court alleging that Daicel Chemical Industries Ltd.; The Nippon Synthetic Chemical Industry Co. Ltd.; Nutrinova Nutrition Specialties & Food Ingredients; GmbH; Celanese AG (successor in interest to other defendants); Hoechst Celanese Corp., a/k/a CNA Holdings Inc.; Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft; Aventis S.A. (successor in interest to other defendants); Nutrinova Inc. and Eastman Chemical Co. entered into unlawful agreements to fix prices of anti-microbial agents used as preservatives in foods, beverages, and pet foods called Sorbates.Ohio's complaint also alleged that the companies allocated territories to sell the Sorbates from Jan. 1, 1979, to June 1997. These activities placed the defendants in direct violation of Ohio state antitrust laws, Petro saysSince 1979, it is estimated that virtually every Ohioan consumed Sorbates. Therefore, the decision was made to allocate the funds to benefit Ohio consumers as a whole.The Ohio Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs is a nonprofit organization formed to support and guide individual Boys and Girls Clubs across the state in promoting the development of healthy, empowered and motivated youth. In the 2002-2003 fiscal year, the organization provided 106,088 meals to at-risk youth participating in club activities, 132,542 nutritious snacks to participating youth and 1,153 food baskets to families of Boys and Girls Club members.Another portion of the settlement is being donated to the Children's Hunger Alliance. "