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Kraft
Foods meeting no laughing matter |
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Chevy Chase, an Ethiopian coffee farmer and the leaders of North America's largest food company met in East Hanover yesterday. There's no punchline. It was Kraft Foods Inc.'s annual shareholder meeting, held at the company's snacks offices in Morris County under tight security. Chase, the comedian, and his wife, Jayni, were there to raise concerns about genetically engineered ingredients. Farmer Dessalgn Jena spoke about the plight of 25 million coffee farmers worldwide trying to cope with the collapse of coffee prices. Kraft is the maker of Maxwell House coffee. Chase, like other Kraft shareholders and attendees, had to go through metal detectors and answer questions about whether they were carrying weapons. He read a statement questioning the ramifications of genetically engineered ingredients in some Kraft foods. "I don't want my family to accidentally ingest a pig vaccine when they eat an Oreo," he said. "I urge Kraft to remove genetically engineered ingredients from all your products." Kraft Chairman Louis Camilleri, who responded to most of the questions from Chase and several others who raised concerns about the issue, said the company believes there are benefits to bioengineering crops. "Customers who are concerned have alternatives in the market," said Camilleri. "Today, we don't see any concern on safety." As for the coffee glut, executives said they hoped to help rebalance the supply-demand equation by increasing demand for coffee. Meanwhile, executives at Kraft, which is owned by Altria Group Inc., told shareholders they anticipated spending some of the $2.8 billion in discretionary cash expected to be generated this year on acquisitions, paying down debt, increasing dividends and repurchasing shares. Kraft became a public company in 2001, although Altria, parent of cigarette maker Philip Morris USA, still maintains about an 84 percent ownership. Kraft employs about 2,000 people at its East Hanover facilities, which produce cookies, crackers and snacks, and at other offices in Parsippany. Betsy Holden, one of Kraft's co-chief executives, said the company expects to generate more than $1 billion in new products this year, including Altoids Strips and a coffee-flavored version of Oreos cookies. Greg Saitz can be reached at gsaitz@starledger.com or (973) 392-7946.
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