The Kraft Heinz Co., headquartered in Pittsburgh and Chicago, said it entered into an agreement to acquire Companhia Hemmer Indústria e Comércio (Hemmer), a Brazilian company focused on condiments and sauces.

The acquisition of Hemmer — a 106-year-old company headquartered in Blumenau, Santa Catarina — is designed to expand consumers’ taste options in Brazil while supporting Kraft Heinz’s strategy of growing its International Taste Elevation product platform and its presence in emerging markets. The completion of this transaction is subject to regulatory approvals by CADE (Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense), Kraft Heinz said.

Greek yogurt-maker Chobani LLC, New Berlin, N.Y., said it entered the peanut butter aisle with Chobani Ends Child Hunger Peanut Butter Flavored nutrient spreads in a partnership with Edesia Nutrition. Chobani said the spreads will serve a dual purpose: helping to solve child hunger while offering a nutritious and safe way to introduce peanuts to infants. The company will donate 100% of profits from its peanut spreads to Edesia for production of Plumpy'Nut, its fortified peanut butter that is shipped around the world across 60 countries to nourish children with acute malnutrition.

Nestlé said it is laying out its plans to support and accelerate the transition to a regenerative food system — one that aims to protect and restore the environment, improve the livelihoods of farmers and enhance the well-being of farming communities. Vevey, Switzerland-headquartered Nestlé will work with its food system partners, including the company's network of more than 500,000 farmers and 150,000 suppliers, to advance regenerative farming practices at the heart of the food system. As part of this journey, the company will also initiate new programs to help address the social and economic challenges of the transition.

The announcement was made in the lead up to the UN Food Systems Summit in New York, as part of Nestlé's contribution to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. It also follows the recent report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that shows the climate crisis is intensifying, the company said.

"We know that regenerative agriculture plays a critical role in improving soil health, restoring water cycles and increasing biodiversity for the long term," said Paul Bulcke, chairman of Nestlé. "These outcomes form the foundation of sustainable food production and, crucially, also contribute to achieving our ambitious climate targets."

Nestlé said it is a signatory of the UN Business Ambition for 1.5°C pledge and was one of the first companies to share its detailed, time-bound climate plan in December 2020. The company is taking measures to halve its emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

“Given the ongoing and recent uptick in negative pandemic impacts, industry organizations restricting travel of employees and the uncertainty of additional constraints within the short-term horizon,” the American Dairy Products Institute (ADPI), Elmhurst, Ill., said it made the tough but prudent decision to pivot its hybrid ADPI Dairy Technology Week event to a virtual-only format. The new programing will now be held from Oct. 25 through Oct. 29 with sessions being held via “partial days” to enable virtual attendee flexibility. Access the event website here.

The Harrisburg, Pa.-based National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association (NFRA) and the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI), Arlington, Va., announced that the Distinguished Order of Zerocrats inducted two food industry leaders into the 2021 Frozen Food Hall of Fame. Included among the 2021 inductees are Richard Graeter, president and CEO, Graeter’s Ice Cream Co., Cincinnati, and Ray Tarnowski, retired president, Philadelphia Warehousing & Cold Storage.

As part of the fourth generation of the Graeter’s Ice Cream legacy, Graeter has been CEO of the company since 2007. His dedication to the artisanal French Pot ice cream making tradition, now used only by Graeter’s, has grown the company significantly by opening stores throughout the Midwest and expanding distribution to grocery stores across the United States, the organizations said.

According to NFRA and AFFI, Tarnowski served in many leadership roles over his career, including the World Food Logistics Organization and Global Cold Chain Alliance. He also served as treasurer of NFRA for 20 years. He is a member of the Distinguished Order of Zerocrats and the Honorable Order of Golden Penguins.

The induction ceremony will take place at the 2022 NFRA Convention, Oct. 15-18 in Orlando, Fla.

The Organic Trade Association, Washington, D.C., and the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University announced a partnership to chart organic’s pathway for the future. The new partnership is launching a series of workshops bringing together a diverse coalition of stakeholders to take a no-holds-barred look at organic, and what has worked and not worked since the federal organic program began.

PMMI, The Association for Packaging & Processing Technologies, announced that Elaine Marshall, a packaging engineering technology student at Indiana State University, is the recipient of its inaugural Packaging & Processing Women’s Leadership Network (PPWLN) scholarship. The PPWLN scholarship supports women’s careers in the packaging and processing industry.

To qualify for the $5,000 scholarship, female students must be studying engineering, packaging, processing, mechatronics or related fields, demonstrate leadership qualities and having a GPA of 3.0 or higher, Herndon, Va.-based PMMI said.

Ingredion Incorporated, a Westchester, Ill.-based provider of ingredient solutions to diversified industries, announced the signing of a new strategic distribution agreement with Batory Foods, Rosemont, Ill. Effective Sept. 10, 2021, the arrangement consolidates Ingredion’s distributor reach in the west and central Midwest of the United States to help food and beverage manufacturers get the ingredients they need to produce and bring their products to market.

This agreement includes Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, Ingredion said. Batory Foods will become Ingredion’s authorized licensed distributor of systems and ingredient solutions in these states, with an expanded view. The distribution agreement does not include sweeteners, specialty sweeteners, polyols, stevia or sugar reduction systems, Ingredion noted.

AAK, Malmö, Sweden said it agreed a deal to purchase 's-Hertogenbosc, Netherlands-based BIC Ingredients, the lecithin arm of BIC International Holding, significantly increasing its footprint in the European lecithin market and supporting its vision of becoming one of the world’s leading suppliers of speciality lecithin.

TGW, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-headquartered systems integrator for automated warehouse solutions, announced the appointment of Nathan A. Wolf as vice president of sales for the North American market. In this role, he will lead the team responsible for customer relationships and sales activities, while driving the organization’s ongoing growth.

Wolf joins TGW from Plascore Inc., where he was managing a business unit. Previously, he worked in leadership positions for Dematic and Amstore.

Tekni-Plex, Wayne, Pa., said it named Eldon Schaffer CEO of the company’s Consumer Products division, which services non-healthcare sectors, including food and beverage, cosmetics and beauty, and personal care. Schaffer will play a critical role in developing and executing business strategies that will enable the company to apply its materials science knowledge to customer product designs and challenges.

Schaffer came to Tekni-Plex from AptarGroup, where he was president of two of the three global divisions with sales of $350 million to $1.2 billion. His global teams consistently outperformed management objectives and delivered above-market growth, Tekni-Plex said.

St. Louis-based packaging company TricorBraun said it has entered into an agreement to acquire Cormack Packaging, a packaging supplier in Australia and New Zealand, establishing the company’s footprint in the region. Serving customers with rigid packaging needs for more than 80 years, Cormack primarily serves the food and beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, industrial and household cleaning industries.