COMPANY NEWS

Archer Daniels Midland Co. will increase its liquid sorbitol capacity by 60% at its Decatur, Ill., facility. Sorbitol is produced by hydrogenation of dextrose. The expansion, due to be completed by the end of 2003, will make use of the supply of dextrose produced by the corn wet milling at the Decatur location. ADM is based in Decatur, Ill.

Burcon NutraScience Corp. entered into a licensing and development agreement with Archer Daniels Midland Co. in September to commercialize Burcon’s canola protein ingredients. The license and development agreement outlines the process by which the two parties will carry out final development of the technology to produce the canola protein isolates, as well as special grades of the products and derivative products. ADM will develop applications for the products, obtain regulatory approvals, construct one or more full-scale production facilities, and have the exclusive right to produce, promote, market and sell products worldwide. Burcon is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Bob’s Red Mill® Natural Foods will celebrate its 25th anniversary by opening a new Whole Grain Store and Visitor Center just outside of Portland, Ore. The new Milwaukie, Ore., store will feature historic milling equipment , cooking classes, a from-scratch bakery, a café, as well as on-site milling. The new store is located in the same town where the original store was located until it burned down in 1988.

Degussa’s three separate food ingredients units, Flavors & Fruit Systems, BioActives and Texturant Systems, have recently been combined into a single international unit, Degussa Food Ingredients. This concentration of food activities into a single business unit will improve the company’s ability to meet market requirements for system solutions and tailor-made products and services. Christian Kapp will head the new business unit. Degussa is based in Parsippany, N.J.

Excel Corp., the meat processing subsidiary of Cargill, Inc., announced a bid of $385 million to acquire the assets of Farmland Foods’ pork processing business. Since Smithfield Foods submitted a bid of $363.5 million in July, an auction will be held in early October. The bankruptcy court will oversee the auction of Farmland Foods’ assets. Excel is based in Wichita, Kans. Farmland Foods is based in Kansas City, Mo.

Fishery Products International Inc. has opened a new center dedicated to culinary research and development. The new 2,000-sq-ft facility, located at the Danvers, Mass., headquarters features a fully equipped foodservice kitchen, a demonstration area, a taste testing area, and conference rooms. In addition to being the home for FPI’s R&D team, the new site will host the FPIQ Seafood School for training customers, brokers, and employees.

Fortitech, the manufacturer of custom-developed nutrient systems, acquired Ashland Distribution, a division of Ashland Inc. By adding the premix manufacturing operation located in Fontana, Calif., Fortitech hopes to increase efficiency and improve the customer service provided to the West Coast. After the sale, Ashland Inc. will focus its efforts on sales and marketing. Fortitech is based in Schenectady, N.Y.

Gee Pee Ceval Proteins and Investment Ltd., the Indian subsidiary of Bunge Ltd., acquired the India-based assets of Prestige Foods Ltd. in September. The assets acquired include an oilseed processing unit with an integrated vegetable oil refinery and packaging facility and daily production capacity of 150 tons of refined oil and 100 tons of vanaspati, a butter substitute used in India. This acquisition is part of Bunge’s continuing expansion in the Indian oilseed processing market, which includes its purchase of Hindustan Lever’s edible oils business in August. Bunge is based in Bradley, Ill.

Mitsubishi-Kagaku Foods and BioEnvelop Technologies have finalized a distribution agreement which will lead to a full licensing and manufacturing arrangement no later than December 31, 2005. According to the agreement, Mitsubishi has the right to distribute BioEnvelop products in Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea. The agreement also stipulates that Mitsubishi will purchase specific amounts of both the Longevita™ gel and the Longevita film in each of the two years prior to the full licensing and manufacturing agreement. Mitsubishi-Kagaku Foods is based in Tokyo, Japan.

Packerland Holdings Inc. (PHI) has purchased the assets of Visionary Design Inc. (VDI) to acquire the exclusive rights to VDI’s founder, Eugene Gagliardi. Gagliardi created unique food items such as KFC popcorn chicken and “beef value cuts.” As the exclusive consultant to PHI, Gagliardi will work on developing new beef products for both Packerland and Moyer. PHI is based in Green Bay, Wis.

PTX Food Corp is opening a new fermentation facility and research center and relocating its corporate headquarters. The new 30,000-sq ft plant is located in Louisville, Ky., and will immediately expand the production capacity to five times the current amount. Moving from its location in Elmsford, N.Y., PTX’s corporate headquarters will enjoy new offices in Cortland Manor, N.Y.

Turner Dairy Farms opened its new Quality Assurance facility in Penn Hills, Pa., in September. The facility, which will perform product quality testing, includes laboratory and office space, in addition to walk-in coolers for product storage.

In July, the USDA-CSREES approved funding for the establishment of a National Center for Electron Beam Food Research at Texas A&M University. The new center will take over the already established Electron Beam Food Research Facility located in the Institute of Food Science and Engineering at the university. The facility will focus on researching electron beam technology for food and agricultural products, hosting research programs, and conducting outreach, training, and education on electron-beam radiation.

Zip-Pack launched its new corporate Web site in September at www.zippack.com. Customers can locate product information or read case studies for solutions while engineers and marketers can find out the specifics of many Zip-Pack products. The site is available in English, French, Spanish, German, and Japanese. Zip-Pak is based in Manteno, Ill.