1961 - Food And Drink

Food And Drink

Campbell Soup Co. acquires Pepperidge Farms, Inc. January 9 for $28.2 million in stock (see 1955). Margaret Rudkin remains chairman of the board and will continue to be active in the business until September 1966.

Total breakfast food is introduced by General Mills, whose advertising will promote it for its nutritional qualities.

Frito-Lay, Inc., is created by a merger of Atlanta's H. W. Lay Co. and the Frito Co. of Dallas (see 1932; 1939). By 1994 the company will have captured 40 percent of the $10 billion U.S. salted snack-food market (no one else will have more than 6 or 7 percent).

R. J. Reynolds acquires Pacific Hawaiian Products Co. and its Hawaiian Punch as the giant tobacco company begins to diversify. Developed in the late 1930s and distributed nationally since 1950, Hawaiian Punch contains some pineapple, papaya, guava, passionfruit, and other juices but is nearly 90 percent water and sugar.

Canned pet foods are among the three top-selling categories in U.S. grocery stores. Americans feed an estimated 25 million pet dogs, 20 million pet cats.

The lemon-lime drink Sprite introduced by Coca-Cola Co. competes with 7-Up (see 1933; Tab, 1963).

Coffee-Mate non-dairy creamer is introduced by Carnation Co. (see Pream, 1952; Coffee Rich, 1960). The powder is made of corn syrup solids, vegetable fat, sodium caseinate, and various additives (see "contented cows," 1906; Borden's Cremora, 1963).

The Italian dairy company Parmalat SpA founded at Parma by entrepreneur Calisto Tanzi, 23, begins with a small pasteurization plant and will grow to have divisions elsewhere in Europe and in the Americas, manufacturing tomato products, vegetable soups, fruit juices, baked goods, and pasta products in addition to dairy products. In 1965 the company will become the first in Italy to offer specialized milk products from herds certified free of tuberculosis (see UHT milk, 1963; shelf-stable milk, 1993).

Cookbook: Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Simone "Simca" Beck, and Louisette Bertholle demystifies good French cuisine (see 1951). Their book will have sales of more than 1.25 million copies by 1974.