12.11.2002 ET

(CSRwire) NORTHFIELD, IL – Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE:KFT), a global leader in branded foods and beverages, announced today that Rolf Sauerbier, Director Coffee Sustainability Projects, Kraft Foods International, has been honored by the Republic of Peru for his work in improving the competitiveness of Peruvian coffee on worldwide markets. The distinguished “Service Cross with Ribbon” was presented to Mr. Sauerbier in a ceremony in Bremen, Germany on December 4, 2002 by the Mayor of Bremen, Dr. Henning Scherf, and the Peruvian Ambassador to Germany, His Excellency Alfredo Novoa-Peña.

The Ambassador thanked Mr. Sauerbier and Kraft Foods for their “valuable service to the coffee industry in Peru, which has led to improved quality standards and access to the European market.” He praised these efforts, saying, “The coffee farmers in our country are now doing much better as a result of this support given to the coffee industry in our country. Thirty to forty percent more of the farmers are now exporting coffee to other countries.”

Since the early 1990’s Kraft Foods has been supporting projects in various coffee producing countries focused on improving coffee quality as well as social and environmental conditions. “Our aim is to improve their access to the market and to raise social standards through private initiative,” explained Sauerbier.

Kraft’s work in Peru, led by Mr. Sauerbier, began in1994 in a cooperative project with the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) and Central de Cooperativas Agrarias Cafetaleras COCLA Ltda. (COCLA) to improve coffee quality through financial and technical support and workforce training. Through this project, a central lab for quality control testing was established; staff were trained in Kraft’s facilities in Germany; a green coffee sorting machine was installed; and a program for technical assistance in the coffee fields was financed.

In partnership with the German Government Aid Organization, GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit), Kraft began a second phase in 1999 with a national project for the implementation of international quality standards for Peru’s coffee exports. Thus far, more than 200 farmers, coffee traders and exporters have received intensive training focused on how best to achieve these standards and gain the market benefit that flows from higher quality coffees. These efforts have contributed to a 300-basis point improvement in the price of Peruvian coffees on the New York coffee exchange.

Rolf Sauerbier (57) began his work at Kraft Foods in Bremen in 1981 and at an early stage became involved in various coffee-related projects. Sauerbier’s current position focuses on programs to strengthen coffee sustainability in select producing countries.

Kraft Foods is the largest branded food and beverage company headquartered in the United States and the second largest worldwide. Kraft Foods markets many of the world’s leading food brands, including Kraft cheese, Jacobs and Maxwell House coffees, Nabisco cookies and crackers, Philadelphia cream cheese, Oscar Mayer meats, Post cereals and Milka chocolates, in more than 145 countries.

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