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Food and beverage consumer packaged goods companies are always making headlines, and this week has been no exception. Here’s a round-up of the news CPG movers and shakers have made in recent days.

PepsiCo Poised for 49% Gain Imitating Kraft Breakup – Will PepsiCo follow in the footsteps of Kraft Foods and split its beverage and snack businesses? Signs may be pointing to yes, as the shares for the world's largest snack-foods maker and second-biggest soda producer fell 9.7 percent – a decline of almost $11 billion in market value – in the past year.

PepsiCo formalizes snack, drink units' combination – On the other hand, rumors of a split could be just that, as PepsiCo announced last week that its top food and beverage executives in the Americas have joined forces to forge better working ties between the snack and beverage businesses. In addition to forming the council, PepsiCo has created a global snacks group to improve its portfolio of snack food brands.

Coca-Cola Cuts Price on 8-Pack of Mini Cans – In other soda news, Coca-Cola lowered the price on its smaller 7.5-ounce cans, making an 8-pack of the drink less than $3. Currently, consumers can find Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, Fanta Orange, and Seagram's in the smaller packaging. No more wasting fizzy beverages, and they're cute to boot!

Can Food Industry, Governments Work Together to Fight Obesity? – Government and CPG companies came together this week in New York at a meeting of the International Food and Beverage Alliance. Representatives from Bimbo, Coca-Cola, Ferrero, General Mills, Kellogg's, Kraft, Mars, Nestlé, PepsiCo, and Unilever united to discuss ways to further improve the nutrition of foods. So far, thousands of products have been reformulated by companies in the alliance, and progress has already been made in cutting trans fats and salt.

Ralcorp rejects ConAgra Foods buyout offer again – It seems as though Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. and ConAgra Foods won't be getting together anytime soon. Ralcorp, which owns Post Cereals, rejected the latest takeover offer from ConAgra Foods – a $5.17 billion proposition. Ralcorp has rejected several bids from ConAgra since March, including turning down a $94-per-share offer last month.

Kellogg Seeks Agency For Big-Budget Brand Assignment – Turning to public relations news, Kellogg Company is seeking agency aid for its broad communications campaigns for its various brands, which includes a variety of cereals, cookies, and crackers. Fees are undisclosed, but sources claim the work is worth as much as $4 million. After two years of difficulty, the nation's largest cereal maker is looking to regain market share from General Mills.

Arch West, retired Frito-Lay marketing man behind Doritos, dies at 97 – In sadder news, Arch Clark West, inventor of Doritos passed away on September 20. Interestingly, his family plans to sprinkle Doritos at his October 1 graveside service in Dallas.

Are you seeing additional headlines pertaining to the food and beverage CPG industry dominating the news? Let me know what you've seen lately.