Milling & Baking News - March 9, 2010 - 10

Business 

Sara Lee defends marketing of
bread with Eco-Grain wheat
DOWNERS GROVE, ILL. - Sara Lee
Corp. on Feb. 22 defended its marketing efforts for its new Earthgrains
Eco-Grain wheat bread, stating it at no
point ever "stated, implied or marketed" its product as organic. The company did, however, remove wording
on its web site that stated Eco-Grain
farming methods "have some advantages over organic farming."
Sara Lee's marketing of the bread
on its web site and in promotional literature had just come under fire from
The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based organic industry watchdog.
According to Cornucopia, Sara Lee's
marketing implied Eco-Grain is more
sustainable than organic grain.
"It's a crass example of a corporation trying to capitalize on the valuable market cachet of organic, while
intentionally misleading consumers
- without making any meaningful
commitment to protect the environment or produce safer and more nutritious food," said Charlotte Vallaeys,

a food and farm policy analyst at
The Cornucopia Institute.
In response to the institute's comments, Sara Lee defended its marketing campaign, even while making alterations in the wording about Eco-Grain on the
Earthgrains web site.
"We are confident in our
current Eco-Grain messaging within all marketing
efforts," Sara Lee said. "In
our efforts to transparently educate consumers
about the major differences between the two
farming practices on our
web site, we recently compared the benefits of the
unique farming practices
of growing Eco-Grain to organic farming. It was never our intention to offend
members of The Cornucopia Institute
with this comparison. Our web site no
longer features comparable language
differentiating Eco-Grain from organic

Sara Lee initiates accelerated
$500 million share repurchase
DOWNERS GROVE, ILL. - Sara Lee Corp. has initiated an accelerated share repurchase program
under which it intends to repurchase $500 million of its common stock, a move that will reduce
the company's shares outstanding to approximately 661 million from 697 million. The repurchase
is part of Sara Lee's earlier announced capital plan under which the company intends to buy back
$2.5 billion to $3 billion of stock over a three-year period, with $1 billion to $1.3 billion to be
repurchased during 2010.
Sara Lee also said it has hedged €1.6 billion ($2.2 billion) of the proceeds it expects to generate
through the divestiture of its Household & Body Care business at a euro-dollar rate of $1.35 per
euro. The company said it expects to incur a one-time charge of $550 million, or 80c per share, to
provide for taxes on the deemed repatriation of existing overseas cash and the book value of the
Household & Body Care business.
As a result of the accelerated share repurchase and one-time charge, Sara Lee has updated its
earnings-per-share guidance for fiscal 2010 by 2c to $1.02 to $1.07. MBN

Magnolia Bakery expanding in
New York, California and Dubai
NEW YORK - Magnolia Bakery,
a family-owned maker of freshly
baked desserts, primarily cupcakes,
has opened a bakery in Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal in
New York. The company also said it
plans to open a shop in Los Angeles
in May.
According to Magnolia, the new
bakery in Grand Central Terminal
10 / March 9, 2010 Milling & Baking News

will feature the company's signature
cupcakes as well as freshly ground
Magnolia Blend coffees and other
freshly-baked breakfast items such
as raspberry crumb muffins. The
bakery also will offer consumers the
ability to place orders in advance for
easy pick up when traveling through
the terminal.
Earlier this year, Magnolia expanded

growing methods; however, we stand
by our messaging and are very proud
of this important first step we've taken
to benefit the environment."
Eco-Grain wheat, which will
make up 20% of the whole grains
in EarthGrains brand wide-pan
bread, was developed by Horizon
Milling, a joint venture between
Cargill and CHS, Inc. The
wheat is grown through
farming practices that reduce the use of fertilizer.
According to Sara Lee,
Eco-Grain wheat is grown
using a technology called
variable rate application,
also known as "precision
agriculture," which uses
a combination of satellite
imagery and soil samples
to identify the best use of
fertilizer on the farmer's
field. The farmer then may
use the data to apply nutrients to the
crop only where it's needed - a process that Sara Lee said requires less
fertilizer, uses less energy and reduces
emissions, all while increasing the
amount of wheat grown on the land.
"This is our first step toward improving the environmental benefits of
our products and we know that more
can be done," Sara Lee said. "At the
moment, there is 20% Eco-Grain in our
bread. We are looking to increase that
percentage as more farmers are identified to grow the crop. We feel that
by commercializing innovative farming practices like precision farming,
which has a number of benefits for
both the consumer and environment,
Earthgrains can help to lead the bread
industry in the right direction."
In addition to including Eco-Grain
wheat in its 100% whole grain, 100%
natural line of wide pan bread, Sara
Lee said it will expand the wheat's
use to EarthGrains Thin Buns later
this year. MBN
internationally with the opening of a
bakery in Dubai.
"We wanted to establish Magnolia as
a trusted neighborhood bakery in each
of these new areas, and so far we've
received wonderful feedback from
our new neighborhood residents and
visitors," said Steve Abrams, owner of
Magnolia Bakery. "Part of Magnolia's
success is our desire to ensure each location remains authentic to the original
concept and true to the overall brand,
which I think our customers recognize
and greatly appreciate." MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com

Milling & Baking News - March 9, 2010

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