COURT REJECTS BUITONI APPEAL OVER IRI FOOD UNIT An appeal by Buitoni SpA against a court ruling that an accord under which it was to acquire Italian state food firm SME - Societa Meridionale Finanziaria was not contractually binding has been rejected, court officials said. An appeal court rejected Buitoni's claim that the 497 billion lire accord with the state industrial company IRI - Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale was a binding contract. The decision upholds a court ruling of last July. Buitoni is controlled by CIR - Compagnie Industriali Riunite, an investment company itself controlled by Ing C Olivetti EC SpA (OLIV.MI> chairman Carlo De Benedetti.