Northfield, Ill.-based Kraft Foods Inc. has announced it will eliminate 8,000 more jobs, or about 8 percent of its work force, and close up to 20 production plants as it broadens an ongoing restructuring effort. Kraft says the cuts will save an additional $700 million in annual costs, atop a targeted $450 million in savings it already had hoped to achieve through a restructuring that began in January 2004.

Minnesota-based SuperValu and Rhode Island-based drug retailer CVS Corp. have agreed to purchase Boise, Idaho-based Albertson’s Inc. for more than $17 billion in cash, stock and debt assumption. SuperValu is taking over most of the grocery stores, while CVS will acquire Albertson’s stand-alone drug store business, which includes about 700 Osco and Sav-On drug stores.

Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Holdings Inc. announced in January it will close a 99-employee factory in Commerce, Calif., and move the operation to its more modern, recently expanded Bakers­field facility. Meanwhile, Nestlé has achieved full ownership of Dreyer’s, three years after merging its U.S. ice cream operations with the Oakland, Calif.-based company.

The dairy producer directors of Rosemont, Ill.-based Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) have approved an agreement with Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd., of New Zealand to jointly fund a strategic research plan to further investigate the health benefits of whey. DMI officials says the agreement creates a new approach to funding science that can lead the dairy industry to increased sales by showing dairy’s competitive advantage over other protein-based products.

Little Chute, Wis.-based Bel/Kaukauna USA has announced plans to relocate its corporate headquarters to the Chicago suburbs. The move affects 30 corporate executives and staff members currently located in the Little Chute office and in a satellite marketing office in Tarrytown, N.Y. Scheduled to be completed by July 2006, the move will not affect the company’s manufacturing facility for its refrigerated spreads brands, which will remain in Little Chute.

Arla Foods is purchasing White Clover Dairy, Hollandtown, Wis. Formed by a merger of Danish MD Foods and Swedish Arla in 2000, Arla Foods has become the largest dairy company in Europe, a cooperative owned by some 11,600 producers in Denmark and Sweden. The Wisconsin plant has 170 employees and produces about 10 million pounds of cheese annually. Officials say Arla may expand its capacity to 30 million pounds.

Applications are now being accepted for the third annual Dairy Industry Safety Recognition Awards, a program that honors firms for outstanding worker safety performance. Washington, D.C.-based International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) began the awards program in 2004 and the rate of industry participation has grown stronger each year. Award winners will be honored April 26 at a special ceremony during IDFA’s Plant Operations Conference in St. Louis. Award co-sponsor Dairy Field will feature the winners in an upcoming ussue.