Seven involved sums above $500m and four of these exceeded $1bn.
By far the biggest was the US Tyson Foods purchase of Hillshire Brands for $8,550m.
Next came the ingredients purchase of Switzerland-based Wild by US-based Archer Daniels Midland for €2,300m.
The deal by Wilmar and First Pacific for Australian Goodman Fielder’s bakery business came in at AU $1,320m.
Canadian Agropur’s dairy acquisition of US Davisco Foods International weighed in at $1,000m of sales.
Of the 54 total, 12 were in alcohol, six in soft drinks, five in dairy and three each in confectionery and ingredients.
30 countries were active, led by the US on 28, followed by the UK on eight, Canada, China and Spain on five, then France and Switzerland on three.
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