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Vegemite goes home

Vegemite, the salty, brown spread beloved in Australia, is going home, purchased by an Australian dairy company from the maker of Oreos.

Mondelez International Inc. said Wednesday it was selling Vegemite and other Australian and New Zealand grocery products to Bega Cheese in a deal worth about $345.3 million (460 million Australian dollars).

Deerfield, Illinois-based Mondelez said it plans to focus on other products like Oreo cookies and Cadbury chocolate.

The sale was welcomed by many Australians who complain that iconic Down Under brands, including Foster's beer and Speedo swimwear, have been sold to foreign companies.

"This is the best news I've heard for a long time," Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith, who developed an Australian-owned yeast extract alternative called OzEmite, told Australian Broadcasting Corp on Thursday. "To bring Vegemite back into Australian hands after over 60 years of it being in American hands, it's great because it means the profit will stay in Australia."

A byproduct of brewing beer, Vegemite was introduced in the 1920s and is an Australian household staple.

Those who haven't been brought up on the spread, long marketed as a rich source of Vitamin B and ideal for healthy children, often find it a difficult taste to acquire.

President Barack Obama once said: "It's horrible."



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