Milling & Baking News - August 3, 2004 - 10

B U S I N E S S

Tate & Lyle to pay $100 million
to settle HFCS civil lawsuit
LONDON - Tate & Lyle P.L.C. last
week announced that its subsidiary, A.E.
Staley Manufacturing Co., has reached a
$100-million settlement with customers
as part of a federal antitrust civil suit
regarding high fructose corn syrup.
By settling, Tate & Lyle became the
last company to pay damages in a case
in which the plaintiff class had sought
damages of $1.6 billion for alleged certain anti-trust laws during the period of
1988-95. Earlier, Cargill, Inc. and Archer

Daniels Midland Co., reached settlements of $24 million and $400 million,
respectively (see Milling & Baking News
of June 22, Page 8).
At the time of ADM's settlement in
mid-June, Tate & Lyle had said it would
go to court in September to ﬁght the
allegations. But the company instead
changed course, agreeing to pay damages and bringing an end to the lawsuit.
"We deny emphatically involvement in any wrongdoing and believe

S.E.C. inquiry peers at Interstate
workers' compensation reserves
KANSAS CITY - The Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting an inquiry into the setting of workers' compensation
reserves and other reserves at Interstate
Bakeries Corp., the company said.
I.B.C. disclosed the informal inquiry last
week and said the S.E.C. action was taken
after the audit committee of the I.B.C. board
retained legal council in connection with the
setting of reserves. The law ﬁrm Skadden,
Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom L.L.P. will
investigate the manner in which reserves

were set by the company.
The S.E.C. noted that it has
not determined that any violation of law has occurred, and
advised that the notice "does
not reﬂect adversely on any
person or entity or on the company's securities," I.B.C. said.
The company said it intends to cooperate
fully in the inquiry.
In early June, I.B.C. announced that it
had increased its reserve for workers' com-

Roquette America to expand
processing in Iowa and Illinois
KEOKUK, IOWA - Roquette America, Inc.,
a producer of corn-based starches, glucose,
corn syrups, and high-fructose corn syrup
used in foods and beverages and in paper
processing, announced it will expand its
operations in Iowa and Illinois.
As part of the plan, Roquette said it will
expand its wet corn milling plant in Keokuk
and the capacity of its plant in Gurnee, Ill.
The Keokuk plant makes dextrose, corn

syrup solids, HFCS, starch and sorbitol
under the Hi Sweet and Dri Sweet brands.
The Gurnee plant makes liquid and crystalline polyols.
The company said the expansion is being
driven by strong demand for lifestyles that
are low in sugar, calories and/or carbohydrates.
"The expansion is a continuation of the
cooperative effort between Roquette and

Buoyed by 30% sales gain, National
Food Laboratory expands facilities, staff
DUBLIN, CALIF. - Propelled by rapidly
expanding demand for its services, the
National Food Laboratory, Inc. has signiﬁcantly expanded its lab facilities, equipment and professional staff.
According to the N.F.L., the company
experienced an overall sales gain of 30%
in 2003. Among improvement announced
by the company were:
* a new high-security level 2 biosafety lab-

10 / Milling & Baking News, August 3, 2004

oratory to expand work on food pathogens;
* a new microbiology lab;
* expanded off-ﬂavor and off-odor problem-solving capability with the purchase of
GC/MS and LC/MS instruments, and
* a Leco fat analyzer for verifying fat
content as well as low/no fat claims.
The N.F.L. said it works closely with
customers on product development from
concept to prototype and then formula-

we were in a position to demonstrate
this at trial," said Robert Gibber,
general counsel, Tate & Lyle. "However, particularly in light of the recent
settlements by the other defendants, a
jury trial would have exposed Staley
to a degree of risk, itself magnified
by automatic tripling of damages and
the addition of attorney's fees, which
could not be justified. For this reason
we reluctantly decided to settle on the
best terms available from the plaintiffs. This agreement does not involve
any admission of liability but does
remove the uncertainties hanging over
Staley from these proceedings." MBN

pensation during ﬁscal 2004 with a charge
to pre-tax income of approximately $40
million (see Milling & Baking News of June
8, Page 11). According to I.B.C., the move
followed a determination by the company
and its insurance advisers that
it was necessary to modify the
manner in which the company
was calculating its estimates
of workers compensation reserves. The change primarily
was a result of increases in the
company's ﬁscal 2004 actual expenses associated with workers' compensation claims,
particularly in the state of California, and
increases in health care costs nationwide. MBN

the respective governments of Iowa, Lee
County and Keokuk to aid the growth of
employment opportunities and the overall
economy of Southeast Iowa," the company
said. "This additional capacity will ensure
Roquette's continued production ﬂexibility,
prepare Roquette for anticipated new product launches and attract other industries interested in the growing agri-businesses of the
Tri-States - Iowa, Illinois and Missouri."
The Keokuk project is expected to be
ﬁnished in early 2006, while the Gurnee
capacity expansion should be ﬁnished by
early 2005, the company said. MBN

tion, processing, microbiology, chemical
analysis, scale-up, packaging, sensory
evaluation and market research.
According to the company, the N.F.L.
provides regulatory guidance and also
helps troubleshoot complex, interrelated
food issues, including those involving
trace contaminants, pesticide testing,
method develop, sensory shelf life and
packaging.
A 12,000-square-foot on-site pilot plant
has the capacity to approximate food
processors' own facilities, for better study
validity and faster turnaround. MBN

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Milling & Baking News - August 3, 2004

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