In an interview on Thursday, Kellogg Co. CEO Steve Cahillane revealed that the business continues to import gum arabic from Sudan, despite the nation being in the throes of a deadly conflict for the third week in a row.
Cahillane, on the other hand, informed reporters that Eggo waffle producer is not concerned that its “safety stock” of the ingredient would be exhausted while the battle continues.
Because of the region’s political uncertainty, several candy, food, and soft drink producers, including PepsiCo Inc, have stockpiled months’ worth of gum arabic since conflict erupted between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group.
Cahillane said that the cereal producer wants “redundancy of supply,” or backups, for the component, and that “we work with suppliers who source from Sudan and other locations in Africa’s ‘gum belt.'”
As the author puts it, “We have inventory builds and different locations and different routes to extract ingredients when ports might be closed and routes might be unsafe.”
Confetti cupcakes with icing from Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts and Morningstar Farms’ spicy black bean veggie burgers both include gum Arabic. Acacia gum, often known as gum Arabic, is an ingredient in Kellogg’s Bear Naked chewy peanut butter and honey granola pieces.
Although the quality of gum varies from Somalia to Nigeria, it is produced throughout the continent. The necessary component can only be found in acacia trees endemic to Sudan, South Sudan, and Chad.
The approaching out-of-stock situation “has not been brought to my attention,” Cahillane said.
