Sector survey....Food

It's tough to be a food company in a world obsessed with growth. 'Let's face it, it's a mature industry, and it's very difficult to get people to eat more,' sympathizes food industry analyst William Leach of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette. 'From an investment standpoint, the opportunities tend to arise more in restructuring and margin improvement rather than in trying to capture sales growth, which is pretty sluggish for most of these companies.' Thus the recent spate of blockbuster acquisitions