Cedar Crest Ice Cream, Cedarburg, Wis., and the Wisconsin 4-H Foundation announced the winner and finalists of the 2020 Cedar Crest Ice Cream Flavor Creation Contest. The finalists will receive a Cedar Crest Ice Cream party, and the Grand Prize winner will have an ice cream party and will be awarded $500.

The Grand Prize winner is Country Clover 4-H Club, Green Lake County (Markesan) for its Tractor Tracks Flavor. The group’s leader is Peggy Jacy Berndt.

The finalists include:

• Cleveland Challengers 4-H Club, Waukesha County (New Berlin); flavor: Cranberry Frost; leader: Angela Jones.
• Champion Spark Plugs 4-H Club, Kewaunee County (New Franken); flavor: Bunny Fluff; leader: Debbie Olsen.
• Aniwa Rockets 4-H Club, Langlade County (Antigo); flavor: Fair Food; leader: Carrie Wincentsen.
• Prairie Pioneer 4-H Club, Waukesha County (Mukwanago); flavor: Red Velvet Cookie Crumble; leader: Jennifer Samuels.

The winning flavor, Tractor Tracks, features chocolate ice cream, peanut butter cups and a marshmallow swirl, Cedar Crest said.

Long known as the “The Natural Goodness of Maine,” Oakhurst Dairy of Portland, Maine, is celebrating its 100th anniversary. As the company looks back on the last century of milestones, it said it is also looking forward to the next 100 years by challenging and encouraging businesses, grocery retailers, community members and local leaders to embrace the values of kindness, goodness, and “Maineness.” “When most companies celebrate an anniversary, it’s usually just a look back, but Oakhurst wants to celebrate a little bit differently and make it more about who we serve,” said John Bennett, president and CEO. “We have the opportunity during a very trying time to encourage everyone around us to pour on the kindness, goodness and Maineness. Today, more than ever, we need to celebrate the act of simply helping our neighbors, because each act of kindness, no matter how small, has a ripple effect that serves to make our state and communities stronger and healthier.”

Oakhurst dairy said it planned multiple initiatives to take place throughout 2021. These include partnering with several iconic Maine companies to pour on the kindness and co-host events and programs throughout the year; unveiling a throwback package in the summer; creating social media activations celebrating individuals in the local community and the company’s history, its farmers and employees; hosting an Oakie kids challenge encouraging children to do “100 Acts of Kindness, Goodness and Maineness” throughout the year; holding Internal employee celebrations; and more.

FrieslandCampina Ingredients announced a partnership with Cayuga Milk Ingredients, Auburn, N.Y., for the production of FrieslandCampina Ingredients’ Refit milk proteins MPI 90 and MPC 85. The move sees two value-led, farmer-controlled co-operatives coming together to bring U.S. customers a localized source of premium milk proteins, direct from the dairy heartlands of the Finger Lakes region in New York state, said the Amersfoort, Netherlands-based company.

SCS Global Services, an Emeryville, Calif.-based specialist in sustainability standards development and third-party certification of environmental, social, safety and quality performance, announced the addition of five new experts to its senior management staff. Carey Allen is the company’s new vice president and managing director for its Food and Agriculture division, while Henning Bloech is the new executive director of European operations. Jenny Oorbeck joined the team as the executive director of SCS Consulting, the business solutions arm of SCS Global Services. And Vik Ahuja is now SCS’ director of sales and marketing in the Environmental Certification Services division, while Tom Ehart is the new corporate marketing director.

EW Group, a Visbek, Germany-based strategic holding company in the field of animal breeding, health, nutrition and diagnostics, announced the acquisition of Hygiena, a Camarillo, Calif.-headquartered provider of food safety and environmental testing solutions. The transaction is expected to close in March 2021.

Powder Process-Solutions, a Chanhassen, Minn., specialist in the custom design and manufacturing of sanitary pneumatic conveying and bulk powder handling equipment, said Scott Lodermeier was appointed to the board of directors of 3-A Sanitary Standards Inc. Lodermeier has worked for Powder Process-Solutions since 2002, most recently in component sales and support.

Lodermeier was nominated for the position after 17 years of active membership and four years chairing the conveyor and feeder work group 6. His term began in January 2021 and consists of three years of service.

Graham Packaging recently received its inaugural Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating from Sustainalytics, where it ranked No. 1 out of 54 others in the plastic, metal and glass packaging industry category. The Lancaster, Pa., company said it also ranked third in the containers and packaging industry segment and received an overall ranking of 169 out of more than 13,560 global companies that were assessed — landing it in the top 2%.

“We are so incredibly proud of this industry-leading ranking in our first-ever ESG rating,” said Mike King, CEO, Graham Packaging. “Our rating shows that we are a global leader in taking action to support best practices in governance, social responsibility and environmental stewardship.”

Hamilton, Ohio-headquartered Kaivac, developer of the No-Touch Cleaning systems, announced the launch of its new website, www.kaivac.com. The new site has a much bigger and bolder look, along with streamlined navigation and an enhanced search function. 

Tate & Lyle PLC, a London-based provider of food and beverage ingredients and solutions, said it launched the Tate & Lyle Nutrition Centre, a new digital hub providing easy access to authoritative science on ingredients that can help address public health challenges. The Tate & Lyle Nutrition Centre aims to increase awareness of evidence-based science for ingredients that include low- and no- calorie sweeteners and dietary fibers — and their role in a healthy, balanced diet. Accessible via www.tateandlyle.com/nutrition-centre, the hub houses expert insights, research and educational tools for food and beverage companies, scientists and health professionals.

Portland, Ore.-based Resilient Infrastructure Group announced its acquisition by Partners Group, a global private equity firm with regional headquarters in Baar-Zug, Switzerland; Denver; and Singapore. Resilient specializes in acquiring, developing and managing a portfolio of wastewater, water and related infrastructure assets in the United States and Canada and said it plans to continue building a diversified water platform focused on wastewater treatment and wastewater-to-renewable natural gas facilities.

Duravant LLC, an engineered equipment and automation solutions provider to the food processing, packaging and material handling sectors, announced the acquisition of Votech GS B.V., a manufacturer of bag filling machines, palletizer machines, stretch hood machines and pallet transport systems headquartered in Reusel, Netherlands. Votech will join forces with Fischbein International, a Duravant operating company, to serve their global customer base. The combination of Votech’s expertise in bag management and palletizing and Fischbein’s portfolio of bag sealing and sewing equipment creates a complementary fit between the two companies, Downers Grove, Ill.-based Duravant said.

Ciranda, a Hudson, Wis.-headquartered supplier of certified organic, non-GMO and fair-trade food ingredients, said it welcomed Joni Huffman in the newly created role of vice president of sales. Huffman will lead the sales and customer support activities and will work closely with the senior leadership team to provide strategic direction for the company.

Bristol, Pa.-based Volkmann USA said its entire lineup of pneumatic vacuum conveying systems earned ATEX certification. Documenting compliance with ATEX health and safety standards in rigorous third party testing, the ATEX-certified pneumatic vacuum conveyor systems are proven safe for use in potentially explosive atmospheres such as those involving combustible dust, flammable gases and/or hybrid mixtures of solids and gas.

Givaudan Taste & Wellbeing announced the launch of its unique Advanced Tools for Modelling (ATOM), which use state-of-the-art artificial intelligence to optimize food and flavor formulation and facilitate co-creation and collaboration with customers. Aligned with the company’s 2025 strategy and intent on leading the way in digitalization, the tools open new doors to creative development and are able to dramatically cut the time to market for new products, the Geneva-based company said.