General Mills, DuPont Jointly Launching Soy MilkGeneral Mills, DuPont Jointly Launching Soy Milk

General Mills, DuPont Jointly Launching Soy Milk

CHICAGO--General Mills Inc.(www.generalmills.com)and DuPont Co. (www.dupont.com) announcedthey would launch a version of soy milk in Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and WestCoast retail stores by July. The two companies formed a joint venture called 8thContinent in late August 2000 and will begin selling three flavors of the soymilk under the 8th Continent name. The deal follows similar arrangements betweenfood and chemical makers looking to penetrate the growing area of functionalfoods. For example, Quaker Oats Co. and Swiss-based Novartis AG formed a jointventure called Altus Food Co. to make functional foods, and Archer DanielsMidland Co. aligned with Procter & Gamble Co.'s chemicals unit to producepackaged consumer goods.