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Popular Pasta Sauce Brand, Ragú Sold to a Japanese Firm

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

Unilever announced that it would sell its pasta-sauces business – Ragú and Bertolli brands to the Japanese firm Mizkan Group, for $2.15-billion.

The Ragú pasta sauce brand was established in New York in 1937, and one year later Unilever bought the sauce product. Ragú is considered the top selling pasta sauce in the United States.  

According to Unilever, the Ragú and Bertolli pasta sauce segment has annual sales of more than $600 million. The acquisition includes a sauce-processing plant in Owensboro, Kentucky, and a tomato-processing facility in Stockton, California.

Within the last 18 months Unilever has sold off several big brands including its Wish-Bone salad dressing ($580- million), Skippy peanut butter ($700-million) and its European meat business for an undisclosed amount.

In 2011, the Japan-based firm, Mizkan, bought a U.S. processor of jalapeño peppers and in 2005 bought Holland House, which sells cooking wines and vinegars. Mizkan’s chairman and chief executive Kazuhide Nakano calls the move an “important milestone in our global expansion strategy.”

The deal is expected to close sometime in June.
 


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Sweetener Effects on Gut Health - Dr. Kwangwook Kim

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In this episode of The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, Dr. Kwangwook Kim, Assistant Professor at Michigan State University, discusses the use of non-nutritive sweeteners in nursery pig diets. He explains how sucralose and neotame influence feed intake, gut health, metabolism, and the frequency of diarrhea compared to antibiotics. The conversation highlights mechanisms beyond palatability, including hormone signaling and nutrient transport. Listen now on all major platforms!

“Receptors responsible for sweet taste are present not only in the mouth but also along the intestinal tract.”

Meet the guest: Dr. Kwangwook Kim / kwangwook-kim is an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University, specializing in swine nutrition and feed additives under disease challenge models. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Animal Sciences from the University of California, Davis, where he focused on intestinal health and metabolic responses in pigs. His research evaluates alternatives to antibiotics, targeting gut health and performance in nursery pigs.