Similar developments also took place in vinegars, ginger bread, sweets and desserts, pastries where Generate Alimentaire came up very fast by means of merger, fortifying Its threatened position ; in biscuitry, where the main French groups (L'Alsacienne, Bicuiterie Nantaise and Buscuits Brun) have succeeded in outstripping American companies like Nabisco and Pillsbury; in milk products, where large companies such as Genvrain, Gervais and Rocquefort existed already before the war and strenghened their positions further by take-overs during the fifties, as did the two large cooperatives, a defensive reaction occurred when about 10 small companies joined forces in Sapiem; this company now has merged with Genvrain.