NEWS OF INDUSTRY
Ecolab and FreshLoc; Ecolab and IBA announce strategic alliances
Ecolab, Inc., St. Paul, Minn., which specializes in food industry sanitation, and FreshLoc Technologies, Inc., Plano, Tex., an innovator in wireless food safety technology, have formed a strategic alliance to ensure that perishable products are maintained at proper temperatures throughout the food supply chain.
The combined technology of the two companies will help provide improved food safety for their customers as well as reducing operator costs through better control of perishable product storage environments.
Ecolab also has joined with Ion Beam Applications (IBA), a high-technology Belgian company, in creating a strategic partnership designed to offer food processors a better chance of fighting serious foodborne illness. The combination of Ecolab’s sanitizing products for plant equipment and food surface treatment, together with IBA’s proprietary E-Beam and X-Ray irradiation technology, means greater control over safety standards throughout the food processing chain.
Under the new agreement, Ecolab becomes the exclusive sales agent in North America for IBA’s line of accelerator systems (cold pasteurization or irradiation). IBA will offer customers a variety of services including ongoing, in-plant consultation and system design and management, based on comprehensive food product analysis to determine the most effective choice of process and dose. Four new processing centers are currently under development for this purpose.
IBA and MDS Nordion open irradiation facility in Mexico
Ion Beam Applications (IBA) and MDS Nordion have opened a new joint venture irradiation facility in Tepeji, Mexico. The new facility, called NGS Enterprises, uses gamma technology to provide sterilization management solutions, product separation, and processing capabilities in the medical device, food, and cosmetic industries.
Paradigm Genetics agreement with Monsanto expanded
Paradigm Genetics, Inc., Research Triangle Park, N.C., has expanded its previously announced Collaboration Agreement with Monsanto Company in the field of functional genomics to include Renessen LLC as an affiliate. This expansion allows Paradigm and Monsanto, through Renessen, to increase value for processors and animal feeders by improving the yields of the most valuable grain components.
Under the terms of the original agreement, Paradigm is to develop functional genomics data and create a product discovery platform for commercialization by analyzing the product of Monsanto’s gene sequencing, bio-informatics, and functional genomics research. Paradigm brings to this collaboration its expertise in gene function analysis and bioinformatics. Monsanto has a strong genomics network, and Renessen is a joint venture between Monsanto and Cargill Incorporated to develop quality traits and customized products that enhance the functionality of grains, oilseeds, and other crops.
Ashland Fine Ingredients forms electronic business unit
Ashland Distribution Company’s Fine Ingredients Division (FID) has formed a dedicated business and sales group within the Division to focus on electronic business initiates. Stan R. Turner was named manager.
The Division has launched www.FIDonline.com, its customized electronic ordering web site, to provide registered U.S. customers in the food, beverage, nutritional, pharmaceutical, and personal care industries with access through a secured gate to business-to-business online products, services, and information. Electronic order customers can place orders, obtain account information, review order history, customize their personal product profile, maintain electronic contact with customer service representatives/sellers; and access order/invoice tracking, all on a 24-hr-per-day/7-day-a-week time frame. To register for this service, call 1-877-343-3278.
Company News in Brief
• Ampacet Corporation, whose international headquarters is located in Tarrytown, N.Y., has opened a new 65,000-sq-ft facility in the Rayong Province of Thailand. The new $13 million site will also serve as Ampacet Asia headquarters, including technical, administrative, and finance functions. According to the company, Asia represents a significant market in white and additive masterbatches, and the new plant expands the company’s global ability to serve its customers in that region. The sales office in Malaysia will remain, and is undergoing renovation.
• Archer Daniels Midland Company, Decatur, Ill., announced the permanent closing of their soybean crushing plant in Helena, Ark., and the termination about half of the site’s 75 employees. The adjacent elevator will continue to operate.
• BioGaia Biologics, Stockholm, Sweden, has expanded the company’s focus on health foods by forming a subsidiary for this purpose. The new company will also develop and produce an extensive range of health products for launch in international markets. For more information, contact Managing Director Peter Rothschild at +46-8-555-293-00.
• Blue Diamond Growers, Sacramento, Calif., has purchased MacFarms of Hawaii from Campbell Soup Company in order to increase its retail business and expand its international industrial macadamia sales in the Pacific Rim and Europe. MacFarms, located on the Big Island of Hawaii, produces and sells a wide range of high quality macadamia nut products for both industrial and retail markets.
• Celsis International plc, the microbial testing group, has been named winner in the Innovation category of The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, held in the United Kingdom. Celsis won for the invention and continuous development of the Celsis Advance™ system for the rapid testing of personal care products for microbial contamination. This innovative Celsis system can detect micro-organisms in less than 24 hours compared to 2–5 days with traditional methods.
• Kerry Ingredients, Beloit, Wis., has begun constructing a 126,000-sq-ft state-of-the-art coatings manufacturing facility in Calhoun, Ga. The new plant, Kerry’s fifth coatings plant, will produce breaders, batters, and marinades used in coating poultry, seafood, vegetables, and other processed foods. When completed, it is expected to employ nearly 100 workers.
• MANE, the flavors and seasonings company formerly based in Wayne, N.J., has moved its U.S. Flavor headquarters to Milford, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. The new, 75,000-sq-ft headquarters includes a flavor manufacturing plant and an advanced R&D Center with full-service application laboratories and kitchens to service the dairy, beverage, confection, bakery, meat, savory, foodservice, and snack industries. The move brings together in one location MANE—Flavors and MANE—Seafla, which already had a facility at the Milford site.
• A new company, R.E. Meyer Company, LLC, has been formed of the purchase of Sun-Husker Foods and Standard Meat Company, both of Lincoln, Neb. The new company will sell Meyer Natural Angus beef products as well as the current meat and poultry products produced by its two founding entities.
• Rexam Closures & Containers, Evansville, Ind., will double the size of its Princeton, Ind., facility to create more space for new machinery and warehousing and to upgrade employee facilities. The additional capacity will be highly automated. When completed by November 2000, the company expects to require additional employees to support its expansion.
• Rosina Holdings, Inc., Buffalo, N.Y., has purchased the assets of Celentano Brothers, Inc., Verona, N.J., to strengthen Rosina’s position in the frozen food category. Both companies offer frozen Italian entrees originally made from old family recipes, and the acquisition will add more than 90 Celentano pasta items to Rosina’s current 425 products. Tom Finn will remain as Director of Sales and Marketing for Celentano.
• SMS Brands, LLC, has relocated its New York office to 39 Riverside Avenue, Westport, CT 06880 (telephone 203-226-9333; fax 203-226-9510).
• Wallis & Barcinski and Ben C. Lewis Company, Dallas-based ingredient sales companies, have merged as of April 1, 2000. The Lewis Company’s manager, Don Burrows, will join the Wallis & Barcinski sales team representing ingredient companies, with emphasis on baking and dairy ingredients, to food processors through the South and Midwest.
by BETSY BAIRD
Assistant Editor