Quaker, Novartis Call Off Functional Food Venture

CHICAGO--Altus Food Co., formed from a partnership between Quaker Oats and Novartis AG to create functional foods, has been dissolved, according to an article in today's Chicago Tribune. The company was formed two years ago in hopes of marrying Quaker's mass marketing abilities with the Swiss health care company's nutrition research background.

Tribune author Ameet Sachdev noted that other business changes, such as Quaker's merger with PepsiCo and Novartis' decision to shed its nutritional foods business, influenced the Altus project's viability. "When the venture was announced, Novartis estimated that Altus could generate 'hundreds of millions of dollars' in sales within three to five years," Sachdev wrote. "But so far, functional foods have raised far more controversy than they have lowered cholesterol levels."

According to the Tribune, Altus' operations closed at the end of December, but the future of the two products that were test marketed has not been decided.