Kellogg buys key ingredient from Sudan

NEW YORK, May 7 (Reuters): Kellogg Co has a stable reserve of a key ingredient used in its Pop Tarts breakfast pastries that it sources from war-torn Sudan, CEO Steve Cahillane told Reuters in an interview.

Cahillane said the US food manufacturer did not see any risk to its "safety stock" of binding ingredient gum arabic as fighting rages in the African country between rival military commanders.

Reuters reported last week that the battles between Sudan's army and a paramilitary force halted trade of gum arabic but that many candy, food and soft drink makers such as PepsiCo Inc stockpile months of supply because of political instability in the region.

"We work with suppliers that source from Sudan and other locations in the 'gum belt' of Africa," Cahillane said, adding that the cereal-maker looks for "redundancy of supply," or back-ups, for the ingredient.

"We have inventory builds and different locations and different routes to extract ingredients when ports might be closed and routes might be unsafe."