Dairy supplier news – acquisitions

Synerlink S.A. acquired Ermi, a leading manufacturer of ultra-clean and aseptic fill-seal bottle and cup fillers for milk, desserts, yogurt and juices. The addition of Ermi, based in Dreux, France, completes Synerlink’s broad range of packaging solutions for its customers, including: form-fill-seal and fill-seal machines for cups and bottles, end-of-line solutions, complete packaging line integration and aftermarket support (spare parts, field service and equipment upgrades).

Prinova acquired Israeli-based Lycored’s China and United Kingdom Premix operations. Prinova is a global supplier of ingredients, flavors, blending and contract manufacturing solutions for the food, beverage and nutrition industries.

Tetra Pak acquired Johnson Industries International, a company specializing in the design, development and manufacture of equipment and lines to produce mozzarella cheese. The company also manufactures a range of cheese cutting, shredding and brining equipment.

Dairy supplier new technology news

Perten Instruments introduced the 3C Solution, a new tool for its Delta LactoScope FTIR dairy analyzer. The Solution reduces the amount of calibration maintenance needed and standardizes all calibrations on an instrument. Operators analyze the 3C Solution and the LactoScope user software automatically calculates any required adjustments. The software then prompts the operator to simply “accept” the calculated adjustments and applies adjustments to all product channels.  

Oracle Packaging introduced a new state-of-the-art extrusion line to its Winston-Salem, N.C., manufacturing facility. The line was designed and installed by industrial equipment provider Davis-Standard, and will double Oracle’s extrusion capacity.

NiceLabel, a leading developer of label and marking productivity software solutions, worked with Arla Foods to create a standardized label management solution for all of its industrial printers. Using NiceLabel’s label management system, Arla was able to automate printing by implementing a standardized integration with the MES at each dairy. Now, master data flows directly from the MES to the printers, eliminating manual data entry errors, mislabeling and the associated costs. By introducing centralized label management, Arla has a more transparent label management process that helps them ensure accurate product and production data throughout the entire label printing process.

Specialty Food Process Technologies added a pilot-scale spray dryer to its 5,000-square-foot climate-controlled Product Development Center in Middleton, Wis. The dryer is fabricated to 3-A sanitary standards, and is capable of either high-pressure or pneumatic atomization with an evaporation capacity of 7 hg/h.

Other dairy supplier news

Flex Essentials Inc. restructured and created a new company to focus on the FlexPak Leak Detector product line. The new company, FlexPak Leak Detectors Inc., will be operated by Roxanne Waslowski, president.

PROVA joined forces with The Livelihoods Fund for Family Farming (Livelihoods 3F) and other industry-leading companies on a new initiative to restore vanilla quality while increasing food security and preserving Madagascar’s unique landscape. The project aims to triple farmers’ revenues and provide companies with high-quality and fully-traceable vanilla over a 10-year span. Livelihoods 3F is an impact investment fund created by Danone, Firmenich, Mars and Veolia to foster sustainability and poverty reduction in supply chains.

Ross Wuxi Equipment, Charles Ross & Son Co.’s wholly-owned subsidiary in China, moved into its new 250,000-square-foot manufacturing facility last December. The facility is its largest to date, said the company.

Serac, a liquid filling equipment manufacturer, launched a new logo, which it said reflects its continued growth and evolution.

SIG Combibloc announced that from January onwards, all SIG Combibloc sites in Europe, South America, China, and the Asia-Pacific regions will be supplied 100% with so-called “green electricity.” This electricity can be proven to come from renewable energy sources such as wind, sun, hydropower, biomass, or biogas.

To meet growing global demands for all-natural, clean-label sweetening systems, Steviva Ingredients opened two new facilities: a manufacturing and distribution center in Salinas, Spain, and a new headquarters in Portland, Ore.

Tate & Lyle PLC, a provider of specialty food ingredients and solutions, unveiled its upgraded Food Systems Global Innovation Centre in Lübeck, Germany last spring.

DIC Corp., announced that wholly-owned subsidiary Hainan DIC Microalgae Co. Ltd., earned Food Safety System Certification 22000. Hainan DIC Microalgae manufactures edible algae Spirulina-based nutritional supplements and Spirulina-derived natural blue food coloring phycocyanin on Hainan Island, in the People’s Republic of China. 

Glanbia announced the verification of Truly Grass Fed by the Non-GMO Project, North America’s most trusted seal for genetically modified organisms avoidance for consumers. Truly Grass Fed is a premium range of dairy ingredients from Glanbia designed for customers and consumers who are looking for the best natural choice for their brands and food products. 

Westfalia Technologies Inc., a leading provider of logistics solutions for manufacturers and distributors, celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. Founded in 1992, Westfalia introduced its European-designed line of automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) to the North and South American markets and has been operating out of its York, Penn., manufacturing facility and other sales and service locations for 25 years.

Supplier news - Awards

Seventeen local high school students with interests in science, culinary and marketing participated in the fifth annual Ice Cream University hosted by TIC Gums at the Texture Innovation Center in White Marsh, M.D. The program is modeled after Cornell University’s Food Science 101 course, a requirement for incoming freshman of the College of Food Science. TIC Gums sponsored each student’s $500 program fee and provided home ice cream makers upon program completion.

The winning ice cream flavor, named Raspberry Tea-riffic, was created by Henry Byers of Aberdeen High School; Gavin Hope of Aberdeen High School; Naomi Karmel of Edgewood High School; Shaylyn Lewis of Aberdeen High School; and Meredith Miller of Edgewood High School. Raspberry Tea-riffic, a green tea ice cream with raspberry swirl and raspberry filled dark chocolate candy, is produced and sold at Broom’s Bloom Dairy located in Harford County.

Bosch Packaging Technology and BillerudKorsnäs’ collaboration on Sealed Paper Packaging won the 2017 Sustainability Awards in the Bio-Based Packaging category. The international jury recognized Sealed Paper Packaging specifically for its unique combination of mono-material Axello paper from BillerudKorsnäs and the ZAP-Module from Bosch Packaging Technology.