• Denali Flavors Inc., Wayland, Mich., has acquired a key ice cream ingredient manufacturing operation from Toronto-based CoolBrands International. The 65,000-square-foot facility in New Berlin, Wis., manufactures a wide variety of flavors and other ingredients for the dairy industry. The acquisition signals Denali’s strategic move toward achieving greater consolidation and new capabilities in the ingredient production segment of its operations. Denali said the addition of the facility, which generated about $20 million in sales in 2005, will nearly double its overall business. The facility will operate as Denali Ingredients LLC and serve dairy customers throughout North America. Denali partners with a majority of the nation’s independent local dairies to produce Denali’s extensive portfolio of flavor varieties, including the company’s signature Moose Tracks® brand.

• Norse Dairy Systems, Columbus, Ohio, and Virginia Dare, Brooklyn, N.Y., will team up at the new Tasting Pavilion at Process Expo in Chicago this month to present “Winning Combinations,” a variety of new frozen desserts. These one-of-a-kind taste treats combine unique flavor profiles and notes created by Virginia Dare’s R&D team, and some of the specially created cones, wafers and inclusions that have made NDS the leading source of products, systems and ideas for the ice cream novelty industry.

• Minneapolis-based Cargill reinforced its commitment to dietitians and their role in keeping Americans healthy by participating in the American Dietetic Association Conference. A four-year conference participant, Cargill again gave attendees the opportunity to sample some of the breakthrough, heart-healthy consumer products containing CoroWise™ Naturally Sourced Cholesterol Reducer™ brand of plant sterols currently available on grocery store shelves.

• Z Trim, the natural fat-replacement ingredient manufactured by Z Trim Holdings Inc., Mundelein, Ill., was named The Most Innovative Ingredient 2006 by Food Ingredients South America’s International Exhibition for Solution and Technology for the Food Industry.