Kraft Foods has to track as many as 100,000 suppliers for thousands of products in order to comply with U.S. financial-regulation law that targets so-called conflict minerals, says company's chief securities counsel

Nevin Barich

LOS ANGELES , October 19, 2011 (Industry Intelligence) – The chief securities counsel at Kraft Foods Inc. said the company would have to track as many as 100,000 suppliers for thousands of products in order to comply with a Dodd-Frank Act rule that targets so-called conflict minerals, Bloomberg reported Oct. 18.

Under the Dodd-Frank financial-regulation law enacted last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission must have companies report on whether they or their suppliers obtain any of four metals from the Democratic Republic of Congo or neighboring countries.

The provision was designed to deny African warlords proceeds from mining of tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold.

Kraft chief securities counsel Irma Villareal told SEC officials that it will take time for Kraft to track the metals in packaging and factory equipment, pointing out the company’s worldwide presence and that they have approximately 40,000 products in its portfolio.

The primary source of this article is Bloomberg, New York, New York, on Oct. 18, 2011.

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