• International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has announced its reorganization into two business units that reflect its flavor and fragrance businesses, effective Jan. 1. Hernan Vaisman has been elected by IFF’s board of directors to the newly created position of group president, Flavors; and Nicolas Mirzayantz has been elected to the newly created position of group president, fragrances. Both will report directly to Robert Amen, IFF chairman and chief executive officer.

• Switzerland’s Givaudan Flavours teamed up with eight of the world’s top chefs to design the Global Chef’s Council® at Copia Center for Food and Arts in Napa Valley, Calif. A first-of-its-kind program, the 2006 Chef’s Council examined global trends, creative techniques and innovative product concepts.

• U.K.-based Tate & Lyle and Israeli company Gadot Biochemical will establish a joint enterprise for building and operating a new plant for raw-sugar refinement at Gadot in Haifa Bay, Israel. This joint enterprise will be operated by a private company to be called Tate & Lyle Gadot Manufacturing Ltd. Estimated plant set-up costs will be about $18 million.

• Ivory Coast cocoa farmers went on strike in mid-October, holding back their crops to protest low retail prices and high export taxes, according to an Associated Press report in the Chicago Tribune. The action came days after authorities officially opened the harvesting season by announcing a retail price of 80 cents a kilogram, roughly 40 cents a pound. Cocoa association president Henri Amouzou said the farmers are seeking $1.15 a kilogram, or 57 cents per pound. Union leaders said they planned to stop trucks carrying cocoa and other farm products such as papayas and bananas to Abidjan until the price is raised. Analysts said a strike might have to stretch out for weeks before it would affect world supplies and prices. Amouzou said farmers also want the government to slash the main cocoa export tax by 45 percent to allow local buyers and exporters to pay farmers a higher price.