We’ve sold Kraft Foods, King of The Snack. The shares have done us no harm, in fact they were up as much as 50% this year, and paid a 2.64% dividend, a tasty morsel. The Heinz merger makes strategic sense on both sides. But snacks could be the next tobacco, with sugar and salt the demons rather than nicotine and tar. My daughter just delivered a speech to her class on how the innocent "smoothie drinks", supposedly the acceptable face of Coke, are in fact wicked health-terrorists, sheltering more sugar than the vile brown fizz itself. This very 21st century threat to our Feel-Good-World faces many Global Autonomies. So we're putting our holdings through health checks. In emerging markets, consumers are less picky. The emerging middle class still wants what we've got: a house, a car and fatally clogged arteries. 

David Fuller's view

Here is Iain Little’s Diary.

He makes a good point.  People are much more health-conscious in the 21^st century and this trend will continue.  Moreover, the big food Autonomies faced far less competition during the second half of the 20^th Century.  Today, they are under siege from an increasing range of mostly niche start-up businesses in the food industry, collectively offering variety from new flavours to ethnic variations and also healthier options. Middleclass consumers have more choice today than ever before and this trend is very likely to continue.