The world's second-largest food company, Kraft Foods Inc., said on Wednesday that large acquisitions would be difficult to make ahead of its full spin-off from majority owner Altria Group Inc.

Very large acquisitions will be difficult as the Altria situation precludes acquisitions using a lot of stock, Kraft Chief Executive Officer Roger Deromedi told Reuters in an interview. He declined to define the size of a very large acquisition.

Altria, which owns cigarette maker Philip Morris and almost 87 percent of Kraft, needs to clear a number of legal hurdles regarding tobacco litigation in the United States before it can spin off Kraft completely.

Analysts have speculated that Kraft may look to buy France's Danone or Britain's Cadbury Schweppes Plc to expand out of its North American heartland, which still accounts for some 68 percent of group sales.

Cadbury