 thumb|120px|the longstanding general foods logo used until 1985 general foods corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the usa by charles william post as the postum cereal company in 1895. the name general foods was adopted in 1929, after several corporate acquisitions. in november 1985, general foods was acquired by philip morris companies (now altria group, inc.) for $5.6 billion, the largest non-oil acquisition to that time. in december 1988, philip morris acquired kraft, inc., and, in 1990, combined the two food companies as kraft general foods (kgf). "general foods" was dropped from the corporate name in 1995 and now exists only as part of a brand name for a flavored coffee-based beverage, general foods international. ==history== c. w. post established his company in battle creek, michigan, having lived there since 1891, when he was a patient at a holistic sanitarium operated by dr. john harvey kellogg.the timeline and product history is adapted from "a chronological history of kraft general foods, inc.", prepared by the kgf archives department, glenview, il, c. 1994.details of c.w. post's career may be found in american national biography, vol. 7, pp. 725-7, published by oxford university press. dr. kellogg, with his brother w.k. kellogg, had developed a dry corn flake cereal that was part of their patientsâ diet. post's first product, introduced in 1895, was not a cereal, however, but a roasted, cereal-based beverage, postum. having developed an aversion to coffee during his time in the sanitarium, post positioned postum as a healthy alternative. its advertising slogan, which he coined himself, was "there's a reason." postum's main ingredients were naturally caffeine-free wheat grain, bran and molasses. initially postum had to be brewed like coffee, but in 1911 post introduced a powdered, instant formulation. this version of the product was manufac
Altria_Group_subsidiaries Breakfast_cereal_companies Companies_based_in_Battle_Creek,_Michigan Companies_disestablished_in_1995 Companies_established_in_1929 Defunct_companies_based_in_Michigan Food_production_companies_of_the_United_States Former_components_of_the_Dow_Jones_Industrial_Average Kraft_Foods_brands