Spray Dynamics of St. Clair, Mo., has opened a sales branch office in Kemp, Texas. The location will allow faster service to the company’s Southwestern and Mexican customers. Kirk Metz, the director of sales, says this opening is part of a strategic move by Spray Dynamics to further strengthen its position in North America and Mexico. The office phone number is 1-903-498-2001, and the entire office staff is 100% bilingual.

CSM has two merged companies: Totowa, N.J.-based Caravan Products Co., Inc. and Kansas City, Mo.-based American Ingredients, which will be named Caravan Ingredients starting Jan 1, 2007. Customers from both companies will be able to order complete product lines offered by the individual companies through their existing sales contacts. The companies’ full range of products will remain unchanged. Packaging for all products will be phased in using the new company name. As a result of the merger, both companies will provide customers with even more opportunities to tap into the high-tech resources of the newly formed company. Manufacturing facilities will continue to operate in their present facilities in the two cities.

Allied Blending & Ingredients, Inc. is celebrating its 25th anniversary, commemorating a heritage of innovation in the food ingredients industry dating back to 1981. Allied produces a variety of proprietary, value-added blends and ingredient products for the food industry. The company makes anti-caking systems, tortilla blends, shelf-life extenders, baking powders, dusting and functional starches, liquid preservatives and tabulating blends. Allied has evolved from a small ingredient distributor into a multidimensional business. Headquartered in Keokuk, Iowa, it has three manufacturing locations and offers national distribution.

King’s Hawaiian, Torrance, Calif., has announced the rollout of its products in greater New York, including metropolitan New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia. As part of the company’s continued expansion in the Northeast, the Hawaiian sweet bread and rolls now are available in most major supermarket delis and bakeries, as well as military commissaries and mass merchandise retail centers in the region.

In an effort to promote healthful snacks and baked goods, a group of food processors, refiners, distributors, marketers and retailers have formed a trade association called the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3 (GOED Omega-3). The group’s goal is to raise awareness of Omega-3 among consumers and educators and implement quality standards and other measures to protect the integrity of the ingredient category. For more information, call 1-801-746-1413.

How big is the market for bakery equipment manufacturers? BEMA, the baking industry suppliers association, is finding that out with its BEMA Index, a program designed to measure the size and health of the machinery market serving the baking industry. The association will report the net dollar bookings for baking equipment in North America, which includes the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. It also will measure the amount of exports. Additionally, unit and net dollar bookings will be broken down into categories, including bulk silos, mixers, ovens, proofers and packaging. For more information, visit www.bema.org.

Butter Krust Baking Co., Sunbury, Pa., has received the award for best bread from The Long Co., a Chicago-based company that includes independent baking companies, which produce baked goods under the Holsum label and other brands. Schwebel Baking Co., Youngstown, Ohio, won the award for best buns, which was giving out at The Long Co.’s annual conference in Chicago in September. The awards are issued annually to those member companies that scored highest in quality for producing bread and buns.

Horizon Milling, G.P., a partnership formed by Cargill and CHS Inc., has completed the purchase of the grain-based foodservice industrial business from Smucker Foods of Canada. The business includes three milling operations in Canada and includes a research and development center and headquarters in Rexdale, Ontario.

Information Resources, Inc. has launched “IRI Retail MarketWatch,” a quarterly benchmarking report that analyzes key trends impacting the retail industry. Specifically, the publication offers insights on category growth, shifting channel dynamics, changing shopper priorities and sales opportunities. To download the report, go to www.us.infores.com/page/Retail MarketWatch

Griffith Laboratories Worldwide, Inc., has expanded its Web site to offer information in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Chinese and Thai. The multilingual site, www.griffithlabortories.com, allows the company to communicate with a broader array of international customers in their own language.

Leng D’Or has announced the opening of a new U.S. snack pellet manufacturing facility in East Brunswick, N.J. The state-of-the-art facility has the latest extrusion technology designed to manufacture certain key snack pellet ingredient products for the U.S. market. Leng D’Or is based in Barcelona, Spain.

Marcia Scheideman, president of the Wheat Foods Council, has started her own blog to offer factual information about grains, including her insights on such timely topics as emerging health research, ingredient innovations and the industry impact of a reduced wheat harvest. “Grain Talk with Marcia Scheiderman” can be found at www.grainblog.wheatfoods.org