Category: Processing Equipment

Health-focused frozen food manufacturer Dr. Praeger’s announced Anita Gogia as chief financial officer.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Anita to the team,” says Andy Reichgut, CEO of Dr. Praeger’s. “Her deep financial expertise along with her proven ability to drive results and build high-performing teams will be strong assets to us. We are confident that Anita will play a significant role in our business going forward as we drive category growth with exciting, disruptive innovation.”

The company says that Gogia brings a wealth of experience from both public and private equity-backed companies in the consumer-packaged goods and distribution industries. She has demonstrated leadership in areas such as corporate and brand financial planning and analysis, sales finance, supply chain finance, mergers and acquisitions, and innovation finance.

Prior to joining Dr. Praeger’s, Gogia served as senior vice president of financial planning & analysis at Imperial Dade, where she spent more than five years. Before that, she held various finance leadership roles during her almost 30-year tenure at  CPG companies such as Kraft Foods, PepsiCo and Pinnacle Foods (acquired by Conagra Brands). Gogia holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the New York University Stern School of Business. 

“I am excited to join Dr. Praeger’s at such a pivotal moment in its journey,” says Gogia. “The company’s strong vision, innovative approach and commitment to growth are incredibly inspiring. I look forward to applying my experience and collaborating with the talented team to drive continued success and long-term value creation for the brand.”

Waterloo Sparkling Water has announced the newest addition to its roster, Pomegranate Açaí. 

This unique seasonal flavor joins returning fan-favorite Spiced Apple, both available as limited-time offerings this fall. Waterloo’s Pomegranate Açaí and Spiced Apple sparkling waters are ideal to savor straight from a chilled can or in a mocktail.

Waterloo’s Pomegranate Açaí blends vibrant and ripe pomegranate notes with earthy açaí, creating an experience that is both bright and complex. And, back by consumer demand for its third season, Waterloo’s Spiced Apple ignites the warmth of the season with a nostalgic and multisensorial flavor experience of baked and crisp apples, aromatic spices and sweet cider notes.

“This season’s ultimate tailgating lineup has arrived with the debut of Waterloo’s Pomegranate Açaí and the return of our Spiced Apple,” says Kathy Maurella, chief marketing officer at Waterloo Sparkling Water. “New Waterloo enthusiasts and loyal fans alike have seasonal flavors to love this fall as we continue to record the fastest growth in households and loyalty in the competitive set for flavored sparkling water. To celebrate the launch of our new Pomegranate Açaí and the return of our fall MVP Spiced Apple, we’ve teamed up with some of football’s leading ladies. Keep an eye out on our social channels for more on how Waterloo’s limited-time-only sparkling waters this fall are bringing fun and flavor to game day.”

Waterloo moves into this fall launch and the final months of 2024 with strong momentum from two successful product releases earlier this year. 

“Flavor innovation and seasonal options are essential to driving growth and excitement for the brand,” says Jason Shiver, CEO, Waterloo Sparkling Water. “Waterloo has the fastest-growing dollar-sales, market share and distribution among the competitive set. Consumers keep on proving the case – as Waterloo continues to deliver full-out flavors that differentiate us on shelf.”

Like all Waterloo varieties, both Pomegranate Açaí and Spiced Apple are free of calories, sugar and sweeteners of any kind. All flavors are made with Non-GMO Project Verified natural flavors and purified carbonated water. 

Waterloo Pomegranate Açaí and Spiced Apple sparkling waters are beginning to roll out this month at retailers nationwide, including Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, Amazon, HEB, Central Market, select Costco divisions, select Sam’s Club divisions, ShopRite, Hy-Vee, Raley’s, Fresh Thyme, Cub Foods and more.

Del Sol Food Company, Inc., manufacturer of Brianna’s Fine Salad Dressings, John Wm. Macy’s Bakery and Café Mexicano Coffee, has named Sam Sommer as vice president of finance and accounting. 

In his new role, Sommer will be responsible for overseeing the company’s financial planning and accounting operations.

“We are excited to welcome Sam to Del Sol Food Company,” says Scott Eckert, president and CEO. “He brings strong financial expertise and a wealth of business insight to our growing portfolio of brands.”

Sommer joins Del Sol Food with more than 16 years of experience in finance and accounting. In his early career, he worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in various financial and audit roles with international clients, and most recently, he served as chief financial officer and treasurer at Blue Bell Creameries for 11 years.

Sommer received his BBA in accounting and his master’s degree in finance from Texas A&M University.  In addition, he received his CPA in 2008.

Molson Coors has entered into a strategic partnership with Naked Life, a non-alcoholic RTD cocktail company in Australia, to bring its products to the U.S. market in 2025.

“Consumers want more than just an alternative,” says Kevin Nitz, vice president of non-alcoholic beverages for Molson Coors. “They want a sophisticated, great-tasting option that aligns with their lifestyle. Naked Life provides a high-quality non-alc cocktail, delivering an experience of the best alc-based versions. After you taste Naked Life, I dare you to believe it’s not a full-strength cocktail.” 

Crafted with distilled botanicals, Naked Life is designed to deliver the same experience of traditional cocktails, with less than 10 calories per can and natural sweeteners. 

Molson Coors will launch Naked Life in the U.S online and in select retail locations starting March 2025. The initial launch will include five of Naked Life’s RTD cocktail varieties:

• Mojito: Lightly sparkling, citrusy lime and fresh mint flavors complement the rich brown sugar and rum notes.
• Negroni Spritz: A sweet blend of cherry, lemon and orange extracts combined with the bitters of cinchona and bitter orange.
• Gin and Tonic: Distilled botanicals and extracts of lemon, bitter orange, and cinchona top noted with juniper berry.
• Cosmo: Cranberry paired with zesty lime and top noted with orange liquor notes.
• Margarita: A tart, citrusy and salty experience crafted with lime extract, tequila notes and just the right amount of salt, subtly top noted with a pot-distilled botanical blend. 

“The consumer market is shifting and is demanding more low- and no-alc options, but the availability of truly great-tasting alternatives has been slow to catch up,” says Naked Life founder David Andrew.

Naked Life will join a portfolio of brands from Molson Coors that welcome all drinkers. From beers to hard seltzers, premium spirits and non-alcoholic options, Naked Life further expands the roster of Molson Coors’ portfolio of beverages that are perfect for any occasion.

“This partnership aligns perfectly with both companies’ goals to innovate and meet the evolving needs of today’s consumers, allowing us to rethink the beverage landscape for the future,” Andrew says.

DioniLife is launching in the U.S. and U.K., with additional global rollout announcements to come. 

The company will focus exclusively on non-alcoholic adult beverages and aims to build a portfolio of products across beverage categories, both through internal development and acquisition. The first acquisition, Mash Gang, will bring premium non-alcoholic beer with a passionate fanbase to a much broader audience.

“DioniLife introduces a new standard for celebrating and socializing with non-alcoholic beverages, with an uncompromising dedication to taste and consumer experience,” says Damian McKinney, CEO and founder. “Exceptional quality and an attention to the rituals associated with how consumers enjoy these products are paramount to how we develop our diverse portfolio. These are a far cry from some non-alcoholic ‘alternatives.’ They are first-choice selections.”

DioniLife features a team whose members spearheaded leadership, operations, innovation, finance, sales and distribution at top spirits companies including Diageo, Stoli Group, Guinness and Heineken. In addition to McKinney, formerly Stoli Group’s global CEO, the team includes Steve Wilson, global leader of innovation and an industry veteran who was previously Diageo’s head of global innovation. 

“We are using the lessons we’ve learned from decades of brand-building experience to contribute to the betterment of the world, both through spreading our company philosophy and improving consumers’ beverage experience,” McKinney says.

Multiple new products and brands by DioniLife are in advanced stages of development. 

“Our guiding principle is that we will never compromise on taste or quality,” Wilson says. “We will carefully release drinks as they meet our industry-leading standards. We insist on exceeding expectations in each category we enter.”

The DioniLife portfolio launch leads with Mash Gang. Founded in the United Kingdom in 2020, Mash Gang sought from the start to pioneer a new future of conscious drinking. In only a few years, Jordan Childs, co-founder and head brewer, grew from being a self-taught brewer to developing over 200 beers, creating proprietary approaches to non-alcoholic brewing, and winning multiple awards. 

“We started the company without any brewing experience and only the sheer determination to create something better than the disappointing non-alcoholic beers we found flooding the market,” Childs says. “From day one, we refused to accept that what we drank had to be in any way inferior.”

Mash Gang’s experimentation led the company to achieve cult status in part due to limited availability and distribution, with standard-bearers like Chug 0.5% IPA complemented by beers brewed with unexpected ingredients such as breakfast cereals and fruit pies. Assuming the unofficial role of the “Johnny Appleseeds of NoLo,” Mash Gang has collaborated with industry leaders such as Northern Monk and Cloudwater to raise the bar for the category worldwide. 

“As members of the DioniLife family, we’re excited to play an active role in a new venture that will similarly disrupt the broader non-alcoholic space and provide options people never thought possible,” Childs says.

DioniLife is backed by the Invus Group. Invus, as exclusive investment advisor to Artal, is a global equity investment firm with an evergreen capital structure operating out of offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Since its founding in 1985, it has focused on empowering entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial teams to transform their industries across both public and private equity investments.

The SPAM brand continues to draw inspiration from foods and flavors around the world with the launch of SPAM Gochujang. 

Fans can find this limited-edition variety in an eight-pack exclusively at Costco Wholesale Warehouses, while supplies last.

Gochujang is a fermented spicy red chili paste and is a staple ingredient in Korean cuisine. SPAM Gochujang combines spicy, sweet, smoky and umami flavor notes. Use it in more traditional recipes like kimbap, so-tteok so-tteok, or budae jjigae or put a flavorful twist on your musubi, SPAM and eggs, or ramen.

“In celebration of the love Korean-Americans have for the SPAM brand, we wanted to create our very own SPAM Gochujang flavored,” says Jennesa Kinscher, senior brand manager for the SPAM brand. “This can packs an approachable heat while still providing the versatility and convenience we all love about SPAM products.”

Eriez has appointed Todd Loudin as vice president of global sales. 

In this role, Loudin will leverage his expertise to drive revenue growth and enhance Eriez’s global market presence. 

With more than three decades of experience in international business and sales management, Loudin has a track record of success. He most recently held a senior executive position at Valmet, a global leader in flow control solutions, where he expanded market share and strengthened customer relationships.  

As part of the Eriez executive leadership team, Loudin will apply his understanding of international sales dynamics and pipeline management to advance Eriez’s efforts to diversify its business worldwide.  

“We are proud and excited to welcome Todd to the Eriez team,” says Eriez President and CEO Jaisen Kohmuench. “Todd’s visionary leadership will be integral to our work to more closely unify and better support our 12 global subsidiaries across six continents. We are confident that Todd’s contributions will have a positive impact on shaping Eriez’ future and elevating the organization.” 

Loudin earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and business from Kent State University and an executive MBA from Loyola University Maryland. Throughout his career, Loudin has been engaged in prominent professional organizations, including serving on the International Society of Automation (ISA ANSI) Standards Committee for more than 12 years.

Wenzel’s Farm is now offering Venison Snack Sticks in three varieties: Original, Teriyaki and Jalapeno Cheddar.

All of Wenzel’s Farm Venison Snack Sticks are gluten-free and made with grass-fed venison.

“We are really excited as a company to be launching the new Wenzel’s Farm Venison Snack Stick line, says Wenzel’s President Mark Vieth. “We can provide a product consumers have a demand for at a great price. This product’s packaging brings forward the elements of our main line of products with a simpler, cleaner look.”

The Venison Snack Sticks will come in a single-serve, 1.5-oz. package and have a suggested retail price of $2.49.

Wenzel’s Farm offers 14 beef snack stick varieties and five varieties of jerky, all of which are crafted in small batches using premium cuts of meat and are naturally hard wood smoked.

Samyang Corporation has completed construction of Korea’s largest allulose plant and is accelerating its expansion of market share for alternative sweeteners both domestically and internationally.

The company held a groundbreaking ceremony at the specialty plant. The ceremony was attended by Ulsan City Deputy Mayor for Administrative Affairs Seung-dae Ahn, Ulsan City Council Member In-seop Bang, Samyang Corporation Vice Chairman Ryang Kim, Vice Chairman Won Kim, Samyang Packaging Vice Chairman Jeong Kim, and Samyang Corporation CEO Nag-hyun Choi, which proceeded with an opening declaration, a progress report, congratulatory addresses and a commemorative performance.

Located in Nam-gu, Ulsan, the specialty plant consists of two buildings: one for allulose production and the other for prebiotics. This facility, constructed with an investment of approximately KRW 140 billion ($105 million), spans a total floor area of 22,150 sq. mt. and has an annual production capacity of 25,000 tons.

Notably, the allulose plant has an annual production capacity of 13,000 tons, more than four times larger than the previous capacity, making it the largest in the country. The plant is equipped to produce both liquid and crystalline allulose, the latter being particularly advantageous for export.

With the completion of this facility, Samyang has solidified its position as the No. 1 company in the domestic allulose market. Given that there are only two companies in South Korea capable of manufacturing allulose, Samyang aims to strengthen its market dominance through swift market penetration.

Allulose, a rare sugar found in the natural world, is an alternative sweetener that is about 70% as sweet as sugar but contains zero calories. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) excluded allulose from the total and added sugars labeling on processed foods in 2019, as it has virtually no calories. It offers a sweetness comparable to fructose and has the added benefit of creating a flavor similar to sugar through a caramelization reaction when heated. As a result, it is considered a next-generation alternative sweetener.

Development of liquid allulose was accomplished with Samyang Corp’s proprietary enzyme technology in 2016, followed by the launch of mass production in 2020. In that same year, the company obtained the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) certification from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Samyang Corporation plans to leverage the specialty plant as a strategic base to propose differentiated solutions by linking allulose and prebiotics, thereby expanding its market reach into North America, Japan, Southeast Asia and beyond. The company is already on the verge of securing Novel Food approval in Australia and New Zealand, signaling a tangible path toward market expansion. Through these efforts, Samyang aims to more than double the revenue share and overseas sales ratio of its specialty business by 2030.

“We have successfully completed the phased construction plan of the comprehensive specialty plant to strengthen our specialty business strategy,” Choi says. “With the establishment of the largest allulose plant in Korea, we are committed to enhancing our competitiveness in the domestic and international alternative sugar markets. This specialty plant will serve as a growth engine for the next 100 years of Samyang Group’s food business and will become a core base for providing health and wellness value to our customers both domestically and globally.”

Meanwhile, the prebiotics plant produces resistant dextrin and fructo-oligosaccharide powder. Resistant dextrin is a soluble dietary fiber and a health functional food ingredient known for its benefits in promoting normal bowel movements, controlling post-meal blood sugar spikes and improving blood lipid levels. Fructo-oligosaccharide, another type of health functional food ingredient, supports the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria and aids in bowel regularity.

Goodway Technologies has launched the DIB-2500 dry ice blaster, a chemical-free and completely dry method for difficult cleaning applications in food and beverage production facilities. 

Dry ice blasting technology uses frozen dry ice crystals – that instantly vaporize on contact – to quickly and easily remove very difficult-to-clean soils such as polymerized oil, baked-on carbon and heavy caked-on debris, leaving the surface clean, dry and residue-free.

Ideal for dry cleaning and chemical-free environments, dry ice cleaning technology is a completely waterless, non-abrasive, non-toxic and non-corrosive solution to clean equipment surfaces and leave them and their surroundings clean and dry. Propelled by compressed air, the DIB-2500 fires tiny dry ice pellets at super high speeds to instantly remove debris from surfaces. The pellets turn from a solid into a gas form on contact, a process called sublimation, leaving the surface clean and dry.

“Developing dry cleaning technologies for food and beverage cleaning and sanitation needs has been a strategic focus for us in recent years,” says Tim Kane, president and CEO of Goodway Technologies. “Adding dry ice technology will be a game changer for customers looking to increase their cleaning ability without the need for water or any moisture. The feedback has been extremely positive.”  

The DIB-2500 unit is fully portable and can easily be used across multiple production lines or facilities.