<SEC-DOCUMENT>0001628280-16-010192.txt : 20160525
<SEC-HEADER>0001628280-16-010192.hdr.sgml : 20160525
<ACCEPTANCE-DATETIME>20160111111149
<PRIVATE-TO-PUBLIC>
ACCESSION NUMBER:		0001628280-16-010192
CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE:	CORRESP
PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT:		1
FILED AS OF DATE:		20160111

FILER:

	COMPANY DATA:	
		COMPANY CONFORMED NAME:			CONAGRA FOODS INC /DE/
		CENTRAL INDEX KEY:			0000023217
		STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION:	FOOD & KINDRED PRODUCTS [2000]
		IRS NUMBER:				470248710
		STATE OF INCORPORATION:			DE
		FISCAL YEAR END:			0531

	FILING VALUES:
		FORM TYPE:		CORRESP

	BUSINESS ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		ONE CONAGRA DR
		CITY:			OMAHA
		STATE:			NE
		ZIP:			68102
		BUSINESS PHONE:		4022404000

	MAIL ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		ONE CONAGRA DRIVE
		CITY:			OMAHA
		STATE:			NE
		ZIP:			68102

	FORMER COMPANY:	
		FORMER CONFORMED NAME:	CONAGRA INC /DE/
		DATE OF NAME CHANGE:	19920703

	FORMER COMPANY:	
		FORMER CONFORMED NAME:	NEBRASKA CONSOLIDATED MILLS CO
		DATE OF NAME CHANGE:	19721201
</SEC-HEADER>
<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>CORRESP
<SEQUENCE>1
<FILENAME>filename1.htm
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<a name="s0563de8f40e74d10a649f69fca481ac9"></a><div><div style="line-height:120%;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div></div><br><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">January 11, 2016</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">VIA EDGAR</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Mr. Ethan Horowitz, Branch Chief, Office of Natural Resources</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Ms. Sandy Eisen</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Division of Corporation Finance</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Securities and Exchange Commission</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">100 F Street, N.E.</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Washington, D.C. 20549</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">&#32;&#32;&#32;&#32;&#32;</font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;font-weight:bold;">RE:</font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;">&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;</font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;font-weight:bold;">ConAgra Foods, Inc.</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;text-indent:48px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"></font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;font-weight:bold;">Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2015 (&#8220;</font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline;">Form 10-K</font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;font-weight:bold;">&#8221;)</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;text-indent:48px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"></font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;font-weight:bold;">Filed July 17, 2015</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;text-indent:48px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"></font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;font-weight:bold;">File No. 001-07275</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Dear Ms. Eisen:</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:justify;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">This letter sets forth the response of ConAgra Foods, Inc. (&#8220;we&#8221; or the &#8220;Company&#8221;) to the Staff's additional comment letter dated December 29, 2015 on the above referenced Form 10-K.  We have also included the comment along with our response to aid in the review process.</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:13px;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:13px;text-align:left;font-size:11pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:11pt;text-decoration:underline;">Form 10-K for Fiscal Year Ended May 31, 2015</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:13px;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;text-decoration:underline;">Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:13px;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;text-decoration:underline;">Note 7 - Investments in Joint Ventures, page 58</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:justify;padding-left:48px;font-size:11pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:11pt;">1. Your response to prior comment 2 states that the disposal of a controlling interest in your flour milling operations constituted a strategic shift that had a major impact on your operations and financial results as your milling operations were the last of your purely commodity-based operations. It does not appear that your response adequately explains the qualitative evidence supporting the presentation of discontinued operations pursuant to ASU 2014-08. Please provide us with additional information regarding the qualitative factors considered by management in determining that this presentation was appropriate. </font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;text-decoration:underline;">Response</font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">:</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:justify;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">The Company was initially formed as a Midwestern flour-miller in 1919.  The Company entered other commodity-based businesses throughout its history.  Over time, through various acquisitions and divestitures, the Company changed its focus to that of a branded, packaged food business.  The divestiture of the controlling interest in the flour milling business, through the formation of the Ardent Mills joint venture, represented the final significant step in the strategic shift of divesting the Company&#8217;s commodity-based businesses.  Whereas the flour milling business processed grains into largely homogenous raw materials for other packaged food manufacturers, the Company&#8217;s remaining businesses market and produce a vast variety of packaged food products marketed under many different brands for retail and foodservice customers in various market channels.  Further, whereas the Company&#8217;s management had previously devoted significant time and resources to the active management of the flour milling business when it was a controlled business of the Company (through management activities devoted to such areas as strategy development, allocation of capital, facilities and operations management, transportation and logistics), management now plays a largely passive investor role in an entity that is managed by its own separate management team.  The Company believes these qualitative conditions, when considered in conjunction with the clearly major impact on the Company&#8217;s </font></div><br><div><div style="line-height:120%;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div></div><hr style="page-break-after:always"><a name="s0563de8f40e74d10a649f69fca481ac9"></a><div><div style="line-height:120%;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div></div><br><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:justify;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">operations and financial results, as quantified in our previous response in the letter dated December 1, 2015, represent a strategic shift and meet the requirements of ASU 2014-08 for presentation as discontinued operations.</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:center;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">***</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:center;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:8px;text-align:left;font-size:11pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:11pt;">The Company acknowledges that:</font></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt;"><tr><td style="width:48px;"></td><td></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align:top"><div style="line-height:120%;font-size:11pt;padding-left:24px;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;">&#8226;</font></div></td><td style="vertical-align:top;"><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:11pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:11pt;">The Company is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure in the filing;</font></div></td></tr></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt;"><tr><td style="width:48px;"></td><td></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align:top"><div style="line-height:120%;font-size:11pt;padding-left:24px;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;">&#8226;</font></div></td><td style="vertical-align:top;"><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:11pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:11pt;">staff comments or changes to disclosures in response to staff comments do not foreclose the Commission from taking any action with respect to the filing; and</font></div></td></tr></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt;"><tr><td style="width:48px;"></td><td></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align:top"><div style="line-height:120%;font-size:11pt;padding-left:24px;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;">&#8226;</font></div></td><td style="vertical-align:top;"><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:11pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:11pt;">the Company may not assert staff comments as a defense in any proceeding initiated by the Commission or any person under the federal securities laws of the United States.</font></div></td></tr></table><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:justify;padding-left:24px;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:justify;padding-left:24px;font-size:11pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:11pt;">We continue to be willing to discuss with you any comments the staff may have.  Please contact me at 402-240-4686 with questions or comments on this response letter.</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:justify;padding-left:24px;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:11pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:11pt;">Very truly yours,</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:11pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:11pt;">/s/ John Gehring</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:11pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:11pt;">John Gehring</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:11pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:11pt;">Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer </font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:24px;text-indent:-24px;font-size:11pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:11pt;">cc: Colleen Batcheler, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, ConAgra Foods, Inc.</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:11pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:11pt;">&#32;&#32;&#32;&#32;&#32;&#32;Rob Wise, Senior Vice President, Controller, ConAgra Foods, Inc.</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><br><div><div style="line-height:120%;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div></div>	</body>
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