With the acquisition of Crowley Foods by HP Hood, Crowley's longtime president and CEO, Marty Margherio has left Crowley to take over as president of the Farmland Dairies LLC division of Parmalat USA. One of Margherio's first tasks will be to execute the sale of Farmland's stake in Milk Products of Alabama to National Dairy Holdings.

In the U.K., Arla Foods is building a new processing operation in central Scotland. Company officials say the plant will be capable of processing more than 100 million liters of milk annually.

Sargento Foods greeted the crew of the USS Ronald Reagan with a cheese-related reception as it returned to its home in Coronado, Calif., in July. Cheeseburgers, games, and a demonstration of the Sargento Cheese Chopper motorcycle were all part of the fun.

Hilmar Cheese is putting the finishing touches on a deal to purchase Iowa-based Proliant Dairy Ingredients. The two companies have worked together to produce and market enhanced whey protein products since 1991.

Food companies love give-away promotions, and dairies make no exception. Dean Foods recently offered chances to win a kitchen makeover. But another Texas company, Klass Food and Beverage of Houston, may have one-upped the dairy leader. Klass, a Mexican owned company is giving away a house in Mexico. The company makes a variety of Hispanic foods including licuados and gelatina.

Safeway Inc., blames a lengthy labor strike that ended in February, for a 4% drop in fiscal second-quarter profit. Although the strike ended before the quarter began, Safeway said the dispute pulled earnings down by $50 million.

U.S. prosecutors last month leveled securities fraud charges against four former executives of U.S. Foodservice Inc. The charges accuse the group of orchestrating an accounting scandal that weakened the food distributor and its Dutch parent company, Royal Ahold. Federal prosecutors accused the onetime managers of conspiring to inflate the company's earnings by about $800 million over a two-year period.