General Mills Inc. said between 400 and 600 jobs would be eliminated in a restructuring as the struggling food giant works to adapt to changing food trends and prepare for an eventual new leader.
The round of job cuts is just the latest from General Mills, which has had to close factories and outlined plans to cut about 5,000 jobs—more than a tenth of its workforce—since September 2014.
General Mills said it is bringing in “external expertise” in the areas of strategic revenue management, e-commerce and marketing. It also said it is looking for a new chief marketing officer.
The company recently announced that Chief Operating Officer Jeff Harmening, who the Wall Street Journal reported in August is being groomed for the eventual chief executive role, was taking over the COO role for the entire company. Four business groups will report directly to Mr. Harmening.
In its latest quarter, General Mills said in September that sales fell 7% as its yogurt business plunged in the U.S., as shoppers traded Yoplait for Greek-style brands.
Shares of General Mills were flat in morning trading.
By Austen Hufford
Source: Wall Street Journal
Free-from is becoming much more mainstream, moving beyond food allergens and intolerances. While it’s still vital to innovate products for lactose intolerance, gluten allergies and so forth, the umbrella term of free-from has taken on many different meanings.
Arla Foods Ingredients (AFI) is targeting infant formula, sports nutrition and medical nutrition with its new patented milk fractionation technology that separates milk proteins from whey, bypassing the need to make cheese. The Denmark-based company says this move enables scientists, nutritionists and health professionals to create “next-generation” dairy products.
Located in Ma’anshan, Anhui province, the facility has the potential to produce an estimated 150 million litres of oat-based products annually at full capacity. The opening comes just a few months after Oatly – which claims to have established a new Chinese character for ‘plant-based milk’ – inaugurated its first Asian factory in Singapore.
