Confectionery giant Mars has struck a deal to snap up Pringles and Pop-Tart-maker Kellanova for nearly $36bn (£28bn).

The firms called it the biggest snacking buyout this year, while legal experts don't expect any objections from regulators.

The deal comes as cash-strapped consumers have been opting for cheaper own-brand junk food, according to market data specialists Mintel.

There is also a trend to towards healthier snacking in the UK, it said.

The huge, family-owned Mars makes sweet treats including Twix, Bounty, Milky Way, M&Ms and Skittles, and Kellanova has brands including Pop-Tarts.

They both claim to sell healthier options too, including Nature's Bakery for Mars and Nutrigrain for Kellanova.

The proposed deal dwarfs Mars' $23bn takeover of Wrigley in 2008, and is not expected to face too many regulatory hurdles, legal experts told the Reuters news agency.

Kellanova was spun off from Kelloggs in 2023, and sells snacks along with cereal outside North America.

It will become part of Mars Snacking, led by Andrew Clarke, and based in Chicago. The deal is expected to complete in the first half of 2025, Mars said.

Food and drink prices rose by close to a third between September 2021 and September 2023, the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank said.

Junk food in the UK is also being squeezed by laws intended to cut down on how obese people get, and the incidence of other health-related problems from eating snacks with a lot of fat, salt and sugar.

From October 2022 supermarkets could no longer promote junk food at store entrances, aisle ends and checkouts and their online equivalents in England.

From October 2025 supermarkets won't be able to do junk food "buy-one get-one free" offers - so-called "volume price promotions" - although Tesco and Sainsbury’s have already cut these out.