Bright Food in acquisition talks with Israel's Tnuva Bright Food, the Chinese state-owned food group that last year took control of UK breakfast food brand Weetabix, has extended its search for overseas assets by starting talks with Tnuva, Israel's biggest food manufacturer and distributor, about a possible acquisition. Bright Food said the talks were still at a "very preliminary" stage and could not confirm a Chinese media report that the value of the deal could be up to Rmb10bn ($1.6bn). The company has made no secret of its desire to acquire overseas food brands. It said on Monday that a deal with Israel's largest dairy products company might make sense, both because "Israel is well-known for its agriculture and the quality of its agricultural management," and because Beijing is pressuring domestic dairy companies - of which Bright Food is one of the largest - to improve quality. China's dairy quality scandals have left domestic consumers willing to pay a premium for foreign infant formula and other dairy products. Bright Food's overseas shopping spree in recent years has involved several famous foreign food brands. In 2012, the company, one of China's largest food groups, bought 60 per cent control of Weetabix. Before that Bright Food made abortive attempts to acquire Yoplait, the French yoghurt maker, GNC, the US vitamin retailer, and United Biscuits, maker of Jaffa Cakes and Hula Hoops. Chen Lianfang, an analyst with CnAgri, a Beijing-based agriculture consulting company, said the government was encouraging big Chinese food companies to purchase foreign food groups to give them access to more advanced technologies and management. "Israel is famous for its agriculture and its management methods are studied by many countries, including some developed ones," he said. And this company is especially good at making cheese, a dairy product with huge market potential in China. If Bright Food acquires the company it could become the number one cheese brand in China. Apax Partners Worldwide, the London-based private equity group that majority-owns Tnuva, declined to comment on the talks. The company was set up during Israel's pre-independence Zionist days by kibbutzim and moshavim - the country's collective farms and agricultural communities - who sold the company in 2008 to Apax and Israeli group Mivtach Shamir for more than $1bn. They remain minority shareholders. Israel is trying to promote its economic ties with China at a time when relations are cooling with the EU, its biggest trading partner, which is taking measures to limit trade in goods made in West Bank Jewish settlements. Additional reporting by Zhang Yan in Shanghai