Blue Diamond Growers, the world's largest almond marketer and processor, opened its new 48,000-square-foot state-of-the-art bulk storage warehouse in Salida, Calif. 

Americold, a global leader in temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics to the food industry, purchased a temperature-controlled storage facility at 1239 Oakleigh Drive, East Point, Ga, bolstering the company’s Georgia-based facility network to 15 and controlling more than 90 million cubic feet of capacity.

Herma US Inc., the newly-formed subsidiary of Herma GmbH, a Germany-based provider of labeling machinery and self-adhesive labels & materials to the global packaging marketplace, opened a showroom at its Fairfield, N.J. headquarters. 

The French Group, Aromatech opened its 8th flavor production facility in the USA – Orlando, Fla. Aromatech Flavorings Inc. began production from the new facility in summer of 2016.

Honeywell acquired Intelligrated, a North American-based automated material handling solutions provider, in a transaction valued at $1.5 billion.

Cargill sold its Dressings, Sauces and Mayonnaise (DSM) business to Ventura Foods, based in Brea, Calif.

Dairy supplier news

3-A Sanitary Standards Inc. released 3-A Sanitary Standard Number 103-00, 3-A Sanitary Standard for Robot-based Automation Systems. This is the first industry standard for the minimum sanitary (hygienic) requirements for design, materials, and fabrication/installation of robot-based automation systems (RBAS), according to the company. This new standard applies to the hygienic applications of industrial robot systems integral to food processing, preparation, or other applications or industries where process equipment cleaning and sanitization is required.

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) and GLG Life Tech Corp. (GLG) partnered to manufacture, market, sell and distribute low-calorie stevia and monk fruit sweeteners to customers around the globe. Under the terms of the agreement, GLG will produce an extensive array of low-calorie sweeteners made from stevia and monk fruit, while ADM will be the exclusive global marketer and distributor of those ingredients to food and beverage companies worldwide.

Land O'Lakes Inc. organized a new business unit, SUSTAIN, with new leadership. SUSTAIN will focus on aligning environmental sustainability efforts across the full Land O'Lakes enterprise.

Carpigiani, global leading innovator of frozen dessert equipment, announced The YES Group as its new rep group for Minnesota, Western Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota. The YES group is based in Mendota Heights, Minn., and has a strong presence in the foodservice industry.

After two recent acquisitions, Arcil SA, based in Puiseux-Pontoise, France, has changed its name to Synerlink. Arcil remains the brand name for the company’s form-fill-seal lines that are manufactured in France.

Prinova, a supplier of high-quality ingredients for the flavor and fragrance industry, announced a new distributorship with Apiscent Labs. Prinova will be the exclusive distributor of Apiscent Labs’ flavor and fragrance ingredients in the U.S. 

Dairy supplier awards, celebrations

Columbia/Okura LLC, designer and commissioner of end of line robotic palletizing solutions, celebrated its 20th anniversary in June.

Berry Plastics Group Inc. received three awards from the In-Mold Decoration Association (IMDA) for its high-quality in-mold label (IML) decoration technologies. The IMDA recognizes companies for continuously enhancing in-mold decoration capabilities into products across all markets.

Admix Inc. was selected by the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) Association as the winner of the 2016 Annual Award for Communication Excellence (AACE) for its presentation video. The AACE Awards are sponsored each year by the Association to recognize the outstanding communications and educational programs of its members.

Mondi Jackson, Consumer Goods Packaging, was named a Gold Award winner in the 2016 DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation this spring. Mondi won the award for its development of a custom-engineered flexible pouch for the SYNEK countertop beer dispenser. The award specifically recognized technological advancement and enhanced user experience.

This spring, Multi-Conveyor LLC was presented with the ACUITY Safety Award for businesses that exemplify the partnership with ACUITY that helps ensure a safe work place.

This summer Gelita Ag won the "German Brand Award" for successful brand management in the category "Industry Excellence in Branding." The prize is awarded by the German Design Council (Rat für Formgebung) and the German Brand Institute. In addition, its corporate film "You can see" won the "Intermedia-globe Award" in gold at the "World Media Festival" in the category Public Relations/Image.

Eleven local high school students from Harford County Public Schools participated in this year’s Ice Cream University hosted by TIC Gums at the Texture Innovation Center in White Marsh, Md. The program is based on Cornell University’s Food Science 101 course which is required for incoming freshman of the College of Food Science. TIC Gums sponsored each student’s $500 program fee and provided home ice cream makers upon program completion.

The winning ice cream named Movie Night was the creation of Afsa Simpson, Science and Mathematics Academy at Aberdeen High School; Ianna Pirozzi, The John Carroll School; and Jillian Hensley, Sollers Point Technical High School.