SUPPLIER NEWS
Tate & Lyle PLC
Tate & Lyle PLC announced that Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has upgraded its Environmental, Social, and Governance rating for Tate & Lyle to Prime, a designation that puts the company in the upper ranks of the Food Products sector. ISS ESG Corporate Ratings score companies based on an analysis of more than 100 sector-specific ESG factors. “Prime” status is awarded to companies with an ESG performance above the sector-specific Prime threshold, which means that they fulfill ambitious absolute performance requirements. According to ISS, the Prime rating classification qualifies Tate & Lyle for responsible investment.
Vandemoortele
Family-owned European bakery company Vandemoortele recently welcome Jeff Block as its new Vandemoortele USA vice president of foodservice. Block has more than 20 years of foodservice experience including Northeast regional manager at Lantmännen Unibake USA, region director at Tribe 9 Foods, business development manager at Carla's Pasta, Inc. and chain account manager at Unilever Foodsolutions.
Edge Industrial Technologies
Edge Industrial Technologies has added new sales personnel to its growing team. David Ginfrida has joined the company in the newly created role of key account manager for Edge. Also, Dave Nelson has joined Pearl Technologies as its newest regional sales manager. Ginfrida will manage selected key accounts for Edge, working across TGW International, Pearl Technologies, and Leverwood Knife Works. Prior to joining Edge, Ginfrida had 13 years’ experience in sales and service management roles for two leading industrial knife suppliers. As a regional sales manager at Pearl Technologies, Nelson will cover the eastern U.S. He has a broad background in production management and sales, having worked for the past nine years for an industrial knife manufacturer.
Bartek Ingredients
Bartek Ingredients recently shared a progress report on what reportedly will be the world’s largest malic and fumaric acid manufacturing facility once fully functional. The project, which broke ground in January 2023, is on schedule to deliver product to customers by the end of September 2024. Bartek expects the new facility to set a new global benchmark for plant safety, efficiency, and environmental performance. Among its anticipated accomplishments is a doubling of Bartek’s production capacity and a per unit greenhouse gas emissions reduction of more than 80%.
Puratos
Food solutions provider Puratos has unveiled its findings on what the hottest consumer trends in bakery, patisserie, and chocolate are likely to be in 2024. The report, resulting from research conducted by consumer research outfit Taste Tomorrow, is the result of polling 20,000 consumers in more than 50 countries with online tools and artificial intelligence.
AMF Bakery Systems
AMF Bakery Systems announced that Leanne Parker has joined the company as chief financial officer. Parker brings 25 years of financial leadership experience in multinational businesses. Most recently, Parker served as the chief accounting officer for Liqui-Box, a world leader in flexible packaging solutions. Her expertise includes global controllership, internal controls, business strategy, and financial planning with a strong track record of success in delivering excellent financial and business results while building high performing teams. She is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Miami University in Ohio.
Kiwa Group
Alfonso Capuchino, a 20-year food industry certification professional, is joining the Kiwa Group as global technical director for food, feed, and farm; along with joining ASI (member of Group Kiwa) as vice president of certification. As a recognized expert and thought leader in management systems, HACCP, third-party auditing, and GFSI certification, Capuchino reportedly offers unique experience in developing multi-standard services to bring the concept of a one-stop-shop certification body to life.
Culinex
Culinex has added Casey Jenkins to its team as a product development manager. According to the company, the hire will help in expanding the service capabilities for clients with her leadership and broad food category experience. Prior to Culinex, Jenkins had hands-on experience developing tea, bars, pasta and rice dishes, beverages, sweet sauces, and more from innovation to commercialization. Jenkins attended Mills College in Oakland, CA, where she earned a degree in Biology before launching her food product development career.
T. Hasegawa USA
T. Hasegawa USA is addressing supply chain shortages with a novel technology designed to decrease reliance on tomato paste, in response to rising material costs and product shortages. The company has introduced Tomato Boostract, a natural flavor modifier that amplifies the taste and texture of tomatoes in a wide variety of products. The new technology was developed in response to severely limited tomato crop supplies in the U.S. as record summer rains saturated California tomato fields, shortening the planting season and diminishing the supply of raw tomatoes.
Bedford Industries
Recycle-Ready PolyTwist, a twist tie manufactured by global twist tie business Bedford Industries, is recyclable in the U.S., the Association of Plastic Recyclers recently affirmed. To recycle, consumers simply insert or reattach the twist tie to a bread bag that is qualified for store drop-off before placing it in the bin. The metal-free twist tie also received a How2Recycle label, allowing bakeries to communicate its recyclability with customers.
