Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (MDVA), in partnership with The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and Turkey Hill Dairy, was recently awarded $4 million to continue supporting its dairy farmers in South Central Pennsylvania with on-the-ground conservation practices through the Turkey Hill Clean Water Partnership (THCWP). Funding was awarded by USDA through the Natural Resources Conservation Service Regional Conservation Partnership Program, Reston, Va.-based MDVA said.

The grant enables the THCWP to continue providing technical and financial assistance to MDVA's dairy farm families, MDVA said. Modeling tools used by National Fish and Wildlife Foundation predict that dairy farmers implementing conservation practices with this grant will reduce nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment runoff to the Chesapeake Bay by 1,886,539 pounds/year, 32,230 pounds/year and 13,075 tons/year, respectively.

Danone North America said it is proud to honor its commitment to science and education through the ninth annual Gut Microbiome, Yogurt and Probiotics Fellowship Grant Program. This year, a committee of nutrition scientists selected Catherine Shelton of Vanderbilt University and Alice Solomon of the University of Arizona.

Winners were chosen based on the quality of their proposals, faculty recommendations and each of their studies' value to human health and wellness. Danone North America said it will award two $25,000 grants to these graduate students looking to explore how they can better understand, support and maintain human health and wellness.

"This year, we are pleased to have received an abundance of exceptional, highly innovative proposals," said Miguel Freitas, Ph.D., vice president of scientific affairs for White Plains, N.Y.- and Broomfield, Colo.-based Danone North America. "The 2020-2021 winners are poised to drive scientific discoveries and contribute to crucial advances in our understanding of probiotics, the gut microbiome and human health. At Danone North America, we consider it our purpose to help further this field and support the future of these high-quality researchers."

Yasso Frozen Greek Yogurt, Boulder, Colo., announced the launch of its Creamy Guarantee Initiative. If consumers do not find Yasso frozen Greek yogurt bars to be the “most mind-meltingly delicious, ridiculously creamy frozen Greek yogurt they’ve ever tried, the company will refund the purchase.”

The company said the guarantee specifies that within 30 days of a customer’s first purchase of Yasso Greek yogurt bars (product exclusions apply), if he or she is not completely satisfied with the creamy taste and texture, he or she may complete a form on the Yasso website for a refund request up to $5.99 of the purchase price.

Glanbia Nutritionals, Chicago, said it launched a redesigned website at www.glanbianutritionals.com. The new website offers an enhanced user experience that quickly connects visitors with the people, ingredients, services and expertise that can help create next-level nutrition solutions across foods, beverages and supplements.

The new homepage’s interactive features provide an overview of how Glanbia Nutritionals is “Built Around You” with a commitment to finding the right solution for each project. As users navigate further, they will find an open, explorable site where they can quickly access information about specific ingredients and services, as well as the company’s full offering of innovative solutions by market. The learning continues in a new, robust NutriKnowledge Center, where visitors may scan through insights, nutrition resources, previously recorded webinars and more to gain deeper understanding on a number of relevant topics, Glanbia Nutritionals said.

Herndon, Va.-based CPA, The Association for Contract Packagers and Manufacturers said it welcomed new directors to the board and announced new officers for the period of April 2021 through April 2023.

Rob Reinders, president of Performance Packaging of Nevada, assumed the position of CPA president, and Mark O’Malley, president of Paket Corp., became the immediate past president. John Hayward, vice president with Bonded Pac LLC, is treasurer.

The newly elected CPA board directors include:

• Dan Altman, vice president sales and marketing, Delkor Systems Inc.
• Gregory Frazier, director of sales, Frazier & Son.
• Jaclyn Noroño-Rodriguez, director of sales, BCI Packaging.

Hiperbaric, a Miami-based specialist in high-pressure processing (HPP) technology, said it will host HPP Innovation Week June 14-18. The online conference will bring together manufacturers, retailers, foodservice and packaging companies, regulatory representatives, academic leaders and others in the HPP industry to discuss the latest trends and innovations. The event will provide a forum for education, networking and collaboration while demonstrating how HPP positively impacts the food and beverage industry, as well as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

Registration for HPP Innovation Week is free, and all content and videos will be available to each registrant. Visit www.hiperbaric.com to register.

Spartech LLC and The Jordan Company L.P. (TJC) announced that one of TJC’s affiliates closed the acquisition of Spartech, a St. Louis-based manufacturer of engineered thermoplastics and custom packaging solutions. TJC, New York, completed the acquisition in partnership with Spartech’s existing management team. Nautic Partners will remain a minority shareholder. The companies said the investment by TJC will provide Spartech with new opportunities for growth and enhance its abilities to develop and deliver plastics solutions to its valued customers.

Eriez, a provider of separation technologies, announced the appointment of Andrew Olsen as chief financial officer and treasurer. He will be based out of the company’s global headquarters in Erie, Pa., and report to Lukas Guenthardt, Eriez’ president and CEO.

Olsen brings extensive experience in corporate and operational finance to his new role on the Eriez corporate leadership team. He served most recently as chief financial officer at General Electric Aviation – Advanced Atomization Technologies, a joint venture of Parker Aviation and General Electric based in Clyde, N.Y., Eriez said.

AAK, an Edison, N.J.-headquartered manufacturer of value-adding specialty vegetable fats and oils, said Jeffrey Fine, Ph.D., re-joined AAK’s team as senior director, customer innovation for the United States and Canada. After serving as a consultant since October 2019, Fine will lead AAK’s Customer Innovation organization for the U.S. region.

Fine previously worked with the AAK U.S. organization from 2004-2016 and established the U.S. research and development function, which has now evolved to become the Customer Innovation organization for the U.S. region. His initial accomplishments for AAK included setup of laboratory-scale oil modifications processes and procedures in Port Newark and development of the first margarine hardstocks for AAK's U.S. bakery business. Fine also led the research and development efforts on strategic growth-focused segments, infant nutrition and candles, AAK said.

Multivac Group, a Wolfertschwenden, Germany-based manufacturer of packaging, portioning and bakery equipment, said it opened an $11.2 million state-of-the-art logistics center at its U.S. headquarters in Kansas City, Mo. Aimed at modernizing and streamlining spare parts order fulfillment and logistics processes, the 33,000-square-foot addition houses 7,000 individual spare part SKUs. Each week Multivac ships 1,500-2,000 individual part numbers to U.S. customers, including many for same-day order, shipping and delivery.

A new $4 million automated storage and retrieval system employs 12 robots picking 2,000 parts per day, Multivac said. With a 30% increase in efficiencies, customers have ready access to wear parts and critical electronics on an immediate basis to keep their machines running and to return lines to production quickly after a breakdown. The logistics center is home to the only mobile cantilever racking system in the United States, allowing prompt shipment of more than 300 stock machines annually.

Spee-Dee Packaging Machinery, a second-generation, family-owned company based in Sturtevant, Wis., said it is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

Spee-Dee was founded in 1981 when Jim Navin acquired the Spee-Dee product line from Franklin Electric Co. By 1989, Navin had grown the Spee-Dee cup filler business and entered into the auger filler market with another acquisition. The company said it transitioned to servo motors and PLC controls in the 90s, and began using electro-magnetic force restoration weighing technology to develop its checkweighers in the 2000s.

After the purchase of its current 48,000-square-foot facility, Spee-Dee said it expanded its research and engineering department. This led to new innovations such as a high-speed rotary filler, vacuum tooling for dust-free fills and hygienic design standards that meet strict regulations, including the 3A sanitary auger for dry milk, infant formula and other applications that require meticulous sanitary standards.

Kemin Industries, a Des Moines, Iowa-headquartered ingredient manufacturer, said it was granted a United States patent (US 10,912,794) on the use of beta 1,3 glucan for modulating human immune function and treating intestinal inflammation. This new patent joins a previously issued patent (US 9,574,217) on the production of beta-glucan for immune modulation using algae from a proprietary strain of Euglena gracilis, ATCC PTA-123017.

Jeremy Olberding was promoted to the position of vice president of Colville, Wash.-based Colmac Coil Manufacturing, a provider of heat exchangers and heat-transfer solutions for industrial refrigeration, HVAC, power generation and gas compression applications. Olberding’s responsibilities will be sales and marketing team leadership, acceleration of Colmac Coil’s new product development, business development and more. The announcement follows the appointment of Joe Fazzari to president of Colmac Coil Manufacturing.   

iTradeNetwork, a Dublin, Calif., provider of supply chain management solutions for the food and beverage industry, announced Rick Haggart as its new chief technology officer. Haggart comes to iTradeNetwork with more than 20 years of experience in executive and entrepreneurial roles in emerging technologies. Prior to joining iTradeNetwork, he worked for Boeing, Accenture, PerfectPlaces.com, RedAwning and Virtana. He is charged with building on iTradeNetwork’s solutions and customer base to help dramatically improve efficiency, certainty and safety in the food supply chain.