To broaden its capabilities of serving the salted snack food industry, TNA has entered an alliance with Kiremko, a potato processing systems manufacturer based in Moonfort, The Netherlands. The alliance will allow both companies to provide turnkey integrated solutions for the snack food industry and allow their customers to reduce time spent sourcing and procuring their potato processing and packaging equipment.
TNA plans to formally announce the alliance at the 2007 SNAXPO American Program on March 24 in Hollywood, Fla. There, Mario Pino, the international sales manager who oversees the Latin American market for TNA, will present “Processing Innovations and Solutions for the Snack Food Industry” as a part of the program, which is run by the Snack Food Association. TNA North America is based in Coppell, Texas. For more information, visit www.tnasolutions.com.

Caravan Ingredients has acquired the Specialty Bakery Ingredients business of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) to bolster its product portfolio for the baking, milling and food processing industries. Caravan Ingredients now provides a wide range of stabilizers, mixes, specialty basis, dough conditioners and other ingredients. Lenexa, Kan.-based Caravan Ingredients, a subsidiary of CSM nv, recently was formed by the merger of American Ingredients Co. and Caravan Products.

Healthy Food Holdings, Boulder, Colo., has announced an agreement to acquire Van’s International Foods, Inc., maker and marketer of Van’s Waffles, a leading brand of all-natural and organic frozen waffles.

Forbes magazine has selected J&J Snack Foods Corp., Pennsauken, N.J., as one of the magazine’s “200 Best Small Companies” list. This is the fourth consecutive year and sixth time that J&J has been recognized by Forbes. Only publicly traded, U.S.-based companies with sales in the $5 million to $750 million range are considered.

Frito-Lay, Plano, Texas, has announced the consolidation of its manufacturing network from 34 to 32 sites. The move was made to increase productivity and optimize its supply chain. Production will move to larger, state-of-the-art facilities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Utah and Washington. Frito-Lay will close its 41-year-old Lubbock, Texas, plant, one of the company’s oldest, as well as its facility in Honolulu, Hawaii, a landlocked site that cannot be expanded. A total of 387 employees will be affected by these actions.

Allied Blending & Ingredients, Keokuk, Iowa, has opened a 40,000-sq.-ft. processing facility in the greater Los Angeles area that features four dry blending lines and one liquid production line with packaging capabilities from 5-lb. to 2,000-lb. totes. The Kosher-approved facility has a quality control laboratory, rated superior by the American Institute of Baking, and offers contract manufacturing services. Allied Blending supplies anti-caking systems, shelf-life extenders, baking powders and other ingredient products and blends for the snack, baking and tortilla industries. For more information, visit www.alliedblending.com.

U.S. production of TrayBon oven-able bakery packaging will allow Amcor-Sunclipse, the North American unit of Amcor, Ltd. of Sydney, Australia to shorten lead times on domestic orders and offer special designs for niche markets. Previously, TrayBon packaging had been produced in Australia. U.S. production will begin in Amcor-Sunclipse’s facility in Orange Country, Calif., notes Steve Percifield, director of TrayBon Bakery Packaging Systems. Eventually, the company plans to produce TrayBon packaging in three facilities throughout the United States.

Which food company is the “best managed” in the nation? According to Forbes magazine’s annual list of the 400 Big Best Companies, Thomasville, Ga.-based Flowers Foods is the “best of the best” among 18 companies in the food, drink and tobacco category. Forbes analyzed 1,000 publicly held companies with at least $1 billion in revenue and then chose the 400 top ones based on earnings forecasts, corporate governance rating and other information. Leadership, innovation and execution were other factors that the magazine considered. The editors selected one company as the overall best in 26 industries.

SIAB, the Italian bakery and pizza show, is attracting some bigger names in the industry, including Rademaker and the Kaak Group from The Netherlands and Diosna from Germany, according to the show’s organizers. SIAB, the International Techno-Bake Exhibition, will run May 5-7 in Verona, Italy. For more information, visit www.siabweb.com.

Corn Products International, Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to buy the food business of SPI Polyols Inc., a subsidiary of ABF North American Holdings. The business produces and sells specialty polyols such as crystalline maltitol, mannitol and liquid sorbitol, among others. Polyols are sugar-free, reduced-fat calorie sweeteners primarily derived from starch. In addition, Corn Products will buy the shares of an SPI unit that holds the remaining 50% of the Getec Guanabara Quimica International S.A. SPI’s pharmaceutical business is not included in the transaction. No terms were announced on the deal, which is subject to customary closing conditions.

Golden Peanut Co., LLC, Alpharetta, Ga., a major supplier of peanuts and peanut products to the food industry, announces the start up of a multi-million-dollar peanut oil refinery. Located on the site of the company’s existing peanut oil crushing and peanut shelling plant in Dawson, Ga., the new refinery creates additional efficiencies and doubles the production capacity of refined peanut oil in the United States. Refined peanut oil is a trans fat-free, heart-healthy, highly stable, pleasant tasting oil that is finding new uses in many food products. Golden Peanut is owned by Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Alimenta USA.