** Shares in packaged foods rise amid broader declines in U.S. stock market as investors seek safety in defensive sectors including consumer staples, utilities and healthcare .N

** Packaged food stocks could be seeing some additional strength due to food CPI figures, which shows that food prices are still climbing higher, with food-at-home inflation now at 11.9%, the highest since November 1978 - CFRA analyst Arun Sundaram

** Shares in J.M. Smucker SJM.N, Kellogg K.N, Campbell Soup CPB.N, Conagra Brands CAG.N, TreeHouse Foods THS.N and Hershey HSY.N rise 1.3% to 1.8%

** General Mills GIS.N, PepsiCo PEP.O, Kraft Heinz KHC.O and Coca-Cola KO.N are up between 0.1% and 0.9%

** Food distributors SpartanNash SPTN.O and United Natural Foods UNFI.N are up marginally

** S&P 500 Packaged Foods & Meats index .SPLRCFOOD is down 2% this year, versus an 18% decline in the S&P 500 index .SPX

(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam)

(( Praveen.Paramasivam@thomsonreuters.com ;))

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022. Click For Restrictions - https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html