The plant closures in Birmingham, Milwaukee and Redding, will result in the loss of 170 jobs, said the Sara Lee Food & Beverage division.

"There is more production capacity in these regions than we actually need, so what we are effectively doing is shifting production to other plants in the region," said vice president of communications Matt Hall.

"We are constantly trying to streamline operations and increase efficiency in order to most effectively serve the market," he told BakeryAndSnacks.com.

The Milwaukee plant will cease production of breads and buns by mid Sept, Redding's production of sourdough breads will come to and end in January 2006, and the Birmingham bakery will close its doors to its dinner rolls by the third month of 2006.

Around 25 new jobs will be created as production is incorporated into other plants in the regions.

Chicago-based Sara Lee this month announced disappointing results for the year, with overall sales for 2005 down 5 per cent to $4.8bn compared to last year's $5bn.

The company, which is currently entering the sixth month in its five-year "transformation" strategy, said it aims to improve operational efficiency and reduce debt by at least $1.5bn in the next two years.

The group recently announced the sale of its $577m cosmetics business, in line with its plans to divest activities that account for almost 40 per cent of income in order to focus on its food and household products businesses.