Bel Brands USA, Chicago, announced a new program in partnership with Kansas City, Kan.-based Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) to implement and measure sustainable cooling practices designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by cutting on-farm energy usage.

Throughout the 12-month pilot program, Bel Brands said it and DFA will:

• Support the adoption of energy-efficient and cost-effective on-farm milk cooling methods by a dairy farm in Iowa that supplies milk to Bel Brands.
• Capture data on the energy and economic savings of the innovative sustainable milk cooling practices compared to the high-energy flash chillers.
• Use program findings to help inform future best practices for dairy farm sustainability throughout the supply chain.

So Delicious Dairy Free, a Broomfield, Colo.-based brand of Danone North America, announced the launch of Good People Loop, a program that aims to support social and economic empowerment of farming partners across its supply chain. Good People Loop launched with a commitment to empower coconut farmer partners to adopt more sustainable practices such as intercropping, composting and mulching organic matter, which improves their crop yields. The program aims to increase crop yields by 50% and increase coconut farmer income by 100% over the next 5 years.   

Tillamook, Ore.-based Tillamook County Creamery Association (TCCA) announced the placement of two American Connection Corps (ACC) fellows in Tillamook and Morrow counties to help advance broadband availability and access programs in Oregon. TCCA will underwrite the fellows’ activities during the next two years as they implement initiatives designed to help ensure better digital connectivity in rural areas of the state.

Led by Arden Hills, Minn.-headquartered Land O’Lakes Inc. and Lead For America (LFA), Dodge City, Kan. — and in partnership with organizations such as TCCA — ACC is an innovative new fellowship program focused on bridging the digital divide. As part of the national network, ACC fellows will receive premiere national training on community organizing, broadband and digital inclusion, as well as access to a network of LFA leaders nationwide, TCCA said.

The TCCA-sponsored fellows will work to increase broadband access and digital literacy for the rural communities by using existing infrastructure to replicate across the counties and maximizing fiber-to-home connectivity. The fellows are part of a national ACC effort that will deploy over 50 fellows to serve as community leaders and champions of digital equity across the country, TCCA said.

TCCA also announced ambitious new packaging goals, which demonstrate one way the 112-year-old farmer-owned cooperative and Certified B Corporation is putting stewardship into action. TCCA said it intends to achieve the following goals:  

• Avoid additional and unnecessary packaging while prioritizing the uncompromising quality of its products and the reduction of food waste.
• Commit 100% of its packaging solutions to being recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2030.
• Increase recycled content to 20% (on average) in its plastic packaging by 2025 and eliminate use of all virgin plastic by 2035.
• Source all virgin paper packaging from Forest Stewardship Council-certified materials and use 50% or more recycled fiber by 2025.
• Educate consumers on actionable ways to reduce food waste and properly dispose, recycle or re-use Tillamook packages.

“Our decision-making around packaging is dynamic as we think about everything from the design, material selection sourcing and consumer behavior,” said Paul Snyder, executive vice president, stewardship, TCCA. “At TCCA, our goal is to provide a great product that’s good for our business, our Tillamook brand fans, and for the environment.”

Paris-based Danone and San Francisco-based biosciences company Brightseed, creator of Forager artificial intelligence, which maps and predicts the health impact of plant-based compounds, announced a partnership to advance Danone’s plant-based expertise. Through a multi-year strategic collaboration, Danone and Brightseed will co-build unparalleled understanding of the world’s most common crops, and will explore lesser-known plant sources.

The aim of this partnership, the companies said, is to establish the blueprint for a health-forward and regenerative food system while accelerating Danone’s development of category-leading plant-based products. It builds from the success of last year's partnership between Danone North America and Brightseed, demonstrating the value of this first proof of concept study.

Bioactives in plants provide significant health benefits for humans, yet currently less than 1% of these compounds are known to science, the companies noted. Only 12 plants — crops such as corn, rice, wheat, soy, oats and others — account for 75% of the global food system. With Brightseed’s capabilities using Forager, there is a wealth of untapped potential to more deeply understand how these plants maintain their health integrity as the cornerstone of the world’s food supply, and explore new territories for plant-based innovations. Forager’s discoveries and insights could usher in a new category of functional foods for Danone to commercialize on a global scale.

Brightseed is building the world's largest plant compound library, the companies noted, and Forager is able to predict which compounds exist in various plants and how they impact human health outcomes. Together, Danone and Brightseed will leverage Forager’s machine learning and multi-omics analyses to explore far beyond standard nutritional conventions and look deeper at the health potential of plant sources from around the world by pinpointing their potent bioactive compounds. By 2025, Brightseed will map all of the approximately 10 million bioactive compounds in the plant kingdom to their health impacts, unlocking unprecedented access to natural compounds for the food, health and wellness industries.  

The Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (WCMA) announced the creation of its Membership Committee and is inviting members to submit nominations for their peers to serve on the committee. The Membership Committee will be one of nine committees currently offered by WCMA. With association staff support, this group will review WCMA’s current membership structure, develop member recruitment and retention strategies, and share new ideas to support the success of all WCMA members.

Nominations must be submitted by WCMA members via email directly to WCMA Business and Membership Manager Sara Schmidt at sschmidt@wischeesemakers.org by 12 p.m. (CT) Friday, Aug. 20. Nominees must be WCMA members. Following the consideration of all nominations, committee members will be selected by the WCMA board of directors. The group will begin meeting in the fall of 2021, WCMA said.

The Northeast Dairy Suppliers Association Inc. (NDSA), North Syracuse, N.Y., announced 11 scholarship recipients to college students to receive the Bruce W. Krupke Memorial Scholarship for the 2021-2022 academic year. The award total $14,000 and the recipients include:

• Hannah Boyd, Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh.
• Jennifer Carl, Cicero, N.Y., St. John Fisher College.
• Justin Carlson, Essex Junction, Vt., University of Vermont.
• Kelsey Delaney, Schenectady, N.Y., Union College.
• Brandi Himes, York, Pa., Lebanon Valley College.
• Ian Michael McHugh, Killingworth, Conn., University of Vermont.
• Matthew Osterhaudt, Manlius, N.Y., Le Moyne College.
• Samantha Palmatier, Hobart, N.Y., SUNY Purchase.
• Coltin John Pflipsen, Willmar, Minn., Alexaria Technical Community College.
• Sydney Reppi, Wolcott, N.Y., St. John Fisher College.
• Taylor Schofield, Pavilion, N.Y., Rochester Institute of Technology.

The Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA) said Matthew Ott, M.S., CAE, CMP, the organization’s president and CEO, was selected for the America Society of Association Executives’ (ASAE) 2021 Class of Fellows. This esteemed recognition is awarded to less than 1% of ASAE’s membership, which includes 7,300 organizations and 42,000 individuals, Arlington, Va.-based GCCA said. By being named to this year’s class, Ott is being recognized for his work and leadership at GCCA, in addition to his accomplishments as an association executive and volunteer for nearly two decades.

Wolfertschwenden, Germany-headquartered Multivac said it signed a collaboration agreement with packaging machine manufacturer Italianpack S.p.A., thereby expanding its product portfolio in the tray-sealer sector. Multivac Sepp Haggenmüller SE & Co. KG has a purchase option for 25.1% of the shares in Italianpack S.p.A. with a term of three years.

With this collaboration, Multivac said it is taking a strategically important step toward complementing its portfolio of services in the field of tray-sealers. Italianpack, founded in 1988 in Como, Italy, is a growing manufacturer of tray-sealers with high quality and performance standards that distributes its products worldwide, both through a dealer network and directly.

FANUC America, a supplier of computer numerical control offerings, robotics and robomachines based in Rochester, Minn., and Alexandria, Va.-headquartered MSSC, a certifier of front-line production technicians with foundational skills in advanced manufacturing and logistics, aligned to co-market the stackability of their respective industry-recognized certifications. This alliance represents a major step to address the acute shortage of skilled industrial robotics and automation operators, FANUC America said.

Both organizations offer their certification assessments through NOCTI/Nocti Business Solutions (NBS), which boasts industry-developed and -recognized certification assessments that follow international standards for personnel certification (ISO 17024). NOCTI/NBS have developed and validated the end-of-course assessments for both FANUC and MSSC to certify their technicians, FANUC America said.

Schenck Process Group (SPG), Darmstadt, Germany, said it reached an agreement to acquire Solids Handling and Process Engineering Co. Ltd. (SHAPE), a supplier and specialist in providing powder-handling and powder-processing solutions located in Bangkok, Thailand. SHAPE offers solutions for almost every facet of manufacturing operations and processes in which dry solids are used.

SPG said the acquisition is a continuation of its strategic focus to further extend its global offering for the food end-markets. SPG is a global provider of sustainable products, integrated solutions and services in mission critical applications for bulk materials.

ITO EN, a Japan-based supplier of authentic, organic ceremonial green tea and matcha powder, said it is partnering with Taiyo International to supply high-quality matcha to the food, beverage and supplement industries in North America. Japan-based Taiyo International has more than 50 years of experience focused on green tea research, nutritional product development and manufacturing technology.

Kemin Industries, a Des Moines, Iowa-headquartered ingredient manufacturer that “strives to sustainably transform the quality of life every day for 80% of the world with its products and services,” said it selected Rebecca Lucas to serve as director of research and development (R&D) for its human nutrition and health business unit.

Lucas previously spent 10 years at Kemin, building expertise in the company and its industries through roles in R&D, marketing and strategic acquisition. Since 2018, she has been with MedPharm Iowa – owned by Kemin President and CEO Chris Nelson, Ph.D., where she helped launch the state’s first licensed manufacturer of medical cannabis, Kemin Industries said.

Flavorchem Corp., Downers Grove, Ill., said it launched the new Flavorchem and Orchidia co-branded website as a reflection of the its innovation and positioning to better serve the changing needs of local and global clients. The dual branding reinforces the direction of the company’s evolution, which is bringing both divisions closer together. The increased alignment of the two divisions leverages the strengths of both brands and allows Orchidia to better leverage the scale and resources of Flavorchem.

The new website has a modern design that aligns with the rebranded identity, retains the connection to the company history and legacy, and shows transparency into the company by featuring real photos of the facility, personnel and applications, Flavorchem said. The mouth-watering, visually stimulating photography and videos create a multi-sensory, fun experience for visitors and customers alike.