Quote, unquote: just-food's week in words

Kraft and Cadbury may have dominated the headlines but, elsewhere, the boss of US meat giant Smithfield Foods bemoaned the drop in hog prices, Fonterra's chairman admitted a public listing was unlikely and Morrisons' boss brushed off rumours linking him to Marks and Spencer and expressed his "love" for the buoyant UK retailer.

"The time is right for this combination to happen" - Kraft chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld on her company's pursuit of Cadbury.

"This bid has industrial and strategic logic going for it but it demonstrates extreme cultural insensitivity" - not all analysts support Kraft's move, as James Amoroso testifies.

"The cocoa industry in west Africa is not at a good moment in time" - amid the corporate battle between Kraft and Cadbury, Dr John Mason, CEO of the Nature Conservation Research Centre, sounds a warning on the future of cocoa farming.

"Something has to change. This trend cannot continue, or you will only find the pig in the zoo because you won't find it on any farms," Larry Pope, Smithfield Foods CEO, on the downward price movement for live hogs.

"I love Morrisons. This is a country that loves lists and loves bets but I love Morrisons and I'm happy where I am" - Morrisons chief executive Marc Bolland attempts to distance himself from rumours linking him to the top job at Marks and Spencer.

"You've got to keep surprising customers to keep them coming back again to see what's new this week" - Mike Davies, boss of UK chocolatier Thorntons, on why the company is betting big on NPD

"It was something that was jumped on by the media, which is unusual for Germany. It is a very different industry to the UK, they have a different way of operating. He wasn't dismissed, he stepped down and it's something we are very keen to get across" - Lidl UK explains new boss Frank-Michael Mros was not pushed from the discounter's German business.

"Consumers will not understand us throwing away our milk, even if it is designed to add greater weight to our protest" - French farmers union boss Jean-Michel Lemétayer on the latest milk strikes in the country

"It would be a waste of time and money to debate the merits of a public share listing when there is no prospect of securing a 75% vote" - Fonterra chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden admits the dairy co-op's farmer members do not want a listing.

"We continue to be very focused on the value proposition as we recognise that the consumer is under significant pressure in this economy - unemployment being part of that pressure. We view this year's economy are somewhat similar to the way we viewed 2009" - Campbell Soup Co. president and CEO Doug Conant