Milling & Baking News - November 30, 2010 - 10

Business 

Kerry buying certain General Mills
baking units in Australia
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - Irelandbased Kerry Group has agreed to acquire
the Croissant King and van den Bergh's
frozen bakery businesses in Australia
from General Mills, Inc., Minneapolis.
The purchase includes frozen dough
and pastry products sold to professional
bakers under the Croissant King and van
den Bergh's brands, as well as two plants
located in Mansfield, Queensland, and

Camellia, New South Wales. About 110
employees dedicated to the frozen bakery business will transfer to Kerry with
the sale, effective Dec. 1.
"General Mills' focus is on growing
our key brands in retail," said Markus
Muehleisen, managing director of
General Mills Australia. The "key"
brands include Old El Paso Mexican
food, Latina pastas and sauces, Betty

Malt-O-Meal adding 200,000 square
feet of production space in N.C.
ASHEBORO, N.C. - A little more
than a year after grand opening ceremonies at its production facility in
Asheboro, Minneapolis-based MaltO-Meal Co. on Nov. 18 said it will
undertake a $136 million expansion of
the facility. The expansion is expected
to begin in 2011 and be completed in
2012. It will include the addition of
more than 200,000 square feet of production space, two additional production lines and the construction of an
on-site, 80,000-square-foot warehouse.
Chris Neugent, president and chief
executive officer of Malt-O-Meal, attributed the reason for the expansion
to the growing demand for Malt-OMeal's product line, particularly for
its recently launched Better Oats line

of instant oatmeal products. Introduced in early 2010, Better Oats is the
first significant new entry in the instant oatmeal category in many years

and has been among the company's
most successful product introductions, he said.
The company currently employs
approximately 200 employees at the
facility in various production, managerial and support capacities. The
planned expansion will create an additional 80 jobs there by 2015.

Sherri Lehman named director of
government relations at NAMA
WASHINGTON - Sherri Lehman has been
named director of government relations at
the North American Millers' Association.
She will join the NAMA staff on Dec. 1.
Mary K. Waters, president of NAMA,
said Ms. Lehman will serve as the group's
staff liaison on food safety.
Ms. Lehman's Washington career began
in 1985 as a congressional assistant, and she
has varied experience on agriculture, food,
trade, nutrition and food safety issues. She
held a position with the Corn Refiners Association and in 2003 joined the National
Food Processors Association, before its
merger with the Grocery Manufacturers
Association. At the N.F.P.A. she worked
on the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization,
F.D.A. food safety programs and spearheaded health and wellness efforts.
"She brings a wealth of experience
to our organization," Ms. Waters said.
10 / November 30, 2010 Milling & Baking News

"Sherri will be a strong advocate for
our members on the issues of nutrition
and food safety. She knows our industry, knows the issues and is enthusiastic
about applying her skills and experience
to the needs of NAMA members. She
has strong relationships with our industry advocacy partners, and we look forward to having her work on our behalf
in these issue areas that are so important
to our members."
NAMA said Ms. Lehman will lead the
development and implementation of programs to support NAMA's research strategy and programs that support public policy affecting nutrition and food safety. She
will support efforts to promote enhanced
demand for nutritional food products in
the U.S. food aid program and build coalitions with key stakeholder groups.
Ms. Lehman holds a bachelor's degree in

Crocker baked goods, and Nature
Valley muesli bars, which were introduced in Australia last April.
"While our bakery team has built a solid business of frozen pastries and dough
products serving bakers for almost 20
year, Kerry's scale and experience also
positions it well to grow and advance the
business in this category," Mr. Muehleisen said. "General Mills will continue to
focus on our retail channels."
General Mills acquired van den
Bergh's in 1999 and Croissant King in
2005. MBN
"Malt-O-Meal has been a good corporate citizen in Randolph county, and
we're pleased that they looked here
for their expansion needs," said Bonnie Renfro, president of the Randolph
County Economic Development Corp.
"In just over a year, the company has
become the single largest taxpayer in
the county and has become one of our
largest employers. They've more than
met their prior commitments for job
creation and have helped us boost our
employment rate over the last year."
In addition to North Carolina, MaltO-Meal operates production facilities
in Minnesota, Utah and Iowa. It is the
only U.S. cereal manufacturer capable
of producing all four leading ready-toeat cereal types: flaked, sheeted, gun
puffed, and shredded. Malt-O-Meal
also operates distribution centers in
Minnesota, Missouri, Utah, Tennessee
and Pennsylvania. MBN

science of government from Southern Illinois University. She is a member of Women
in Government Relations, the Agribusiness
Club of Washington and previously served
on the National Association of Manufacturers Food and Beverage Industry Group. MBN

Hostess joins sodium
reduction initiative
IRVING, TEXAS - Hostess Brands, Inc.
is partnering with the National Sodium
Reduction Initiative, a public-private
partnership of more than 50 cities, states
and health organizations that seeks to
reduce sodium in foods by 20% over the
next five years.
Irving-based Hostess will continue in
its efforts to reduce sodium levels in its
bread portfolio, which includes brands
such as Wonder, Nature's Pride and Merita. Wonder was to be featured Nov. 23 on
the "Halt the Salt" episode of the daytime
talk show "The Doctors." MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

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

Milling & Baking News - November 30, 2010

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