Milling & Baking News - September 4, 2012 - 1

THE NEWS WEEKLY OF GRAIN-BASED FOODS SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

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FOOD INGREDIENT SOLUTIONS®

Rayburn: Hostess faces ‘difﬁcult’ and ‘painful’ path to recovery
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. — Acknowledging that a “difﬁcult” and “painful” path to recovery remains, Greg Rayburn, chief executive ofﬁcer of Hostess Brands, Inc., remains hopeful that the embattled Irving, Texas-based baker will successfully emerge from bankruptcy for the second time in four years. Mr. Rayburn provided insight into the challenges (including an 8% across the board wage/salary cut) facing the company as part of an Aug. 23 interview that aired on CNBC. Reflecting on how Hostess ended up in this position, Mr. Rayburn told CNBC that excessive debt and inadequate reinvestment into a business over a period of many years has been a recipe for serious trouble at many companies, including Hostess. “I think for Hostess, we have a path to emerge, but it’s a difﬁcult one, it’s a painful one,” Mr. Rayburn said. “It’s painful for the employees because it requires wage concessions, pensions concessions, and they’ve been through this ringer once already. So there is a way, but it’s not an easy way.” Hostess recently proposed a deal to its union members that would save $200 million in costs, but would come at the
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Entrance exam
Whole grain products, including hamburger buns, seek students’ approval
Story on Page 19

LATE NEWS

Science seen lacking for gluten-free craze
NEW YORK — “There is no evidence to suggest that following a gluten-free diet has any signiﬁcant beneﬁts in the general population.” That is the ﬁnding of a study published in the September 2012 issue of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The study was written by Glenn A. Gaesser, a professor at Arizona State University, and Siddhartha S. Angadi, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Nursing. For those without celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, gluten-free dieting “may adversely affect gut health,” the authors conclude. Noting that gluten-free
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Milling Technology 

Repeated reinvention brings success to Didion Milling
f you ask John A. Didion to explain what distinguishes Didion Milling Inc. in the marketplace for milled corn products, the word “passion” is likely to come up, perhaps repeatedly. As an objective matter, the claim is a difﬁcult one to prove or disprove. Still, to the degree that dramatically changing a company’s business model again and again to

add value because of marketplace changes or new opportunities is an indicator of passion, for which Mr. Didion makes a strong case. During the past 40 years, the family-owned business has evolved from a modest grain brokerage operation into a country elevator business, into a corn mill dedicated to exports
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Marking nine decades in partnership with grain-based foods

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Milling & Baking News - September 4, 2012

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