Illinois-based Kraft foods announced this morning it's being bought by fellow food giant Heinz. The two companies will have a near-equal partnership, and say they'll keep their separate headquarters, at least for now.
Kraft employs over 3,000 Illinoisans between its suburban Northfield headquarters and its downstate Champaign processing plant, the largest in North America.
Bob Brackett, director of the Illinois Institute of Technology's Institute for Food Safety and Health, says the merger could be mutually beneficial. He says Kraft's sales have been flat, due to what industry analysts call changing American taste.
"Sort of a desire to go back to something that is what they call clean labels--products that are more fresh-like, that have a perception of being more healthy and that have simpler labels with fewer ingredients."
Brackett says the prepackaged food industry is searching for ways to become more efficient and relevant, but he doesn't expect this merger to change all that much in the long run.
While mergers like this often can mean massive layoffs, experts say because the two companies have differentiated products, there may be only minimal job loss.