Weekly Roundup: ADM completes Rodelle buy, Disruptive Asian start-ups to reduce food loss

24 Aug 2018 --- In business news this week, ADM completed its acquisition of Rodelle Inc., a premium originator, processor and supplier of vanilla products. An external evaluation of The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) welcomed new mechanisms for engagement with stakeholders, initiatives in the field of access to data and a strengthened independence policy. Also this week, Rabobank launched a competition for disruptive Asian start-ups to reduce food loss.

Business news
Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM)has completed its acquisition of Rodelle Inc., a premium originator, processor and supplier of vanilla products. Rodelle, founded in 1936 and based in Fort Collins, Colorado, originates, processes and sells premium vanilla products, including organic and traditional extracts, beans, alcohol-free flavor and paste. The company also sells non-vanilla products, including flavorings, extracts, spice blends and organic spices. In Madagascar, the company owns a stake in Federation Sahanala Vanille – a joint venture between Rodelle and a partnership of local associations that now includes more than 2,100 registered vanilla farmers – and is capable of producing industry-leading volumes of certified organic vanilla. Rodelle also has a strategic partnership with Gourmet Gardens, providing sourcing of vanilla in Uganda.

Bunge Limited has completed the sale of its international sugar trading operations to Wilmar Sugar Pte. Ltd. Financial terms were not disclosed. The sale is the latest in Bunge’s efforts to reduce its exposure to a struggling sugar unit, which the company first said in 2013 it was looking to sell. Bunge said earlier this year it would seek to sell its trading operations separately from its production assets in Brazil.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published the third external evaluation of its activities, covering the period from 2011 to 2016, assessing progress made in implementing previous recommendations and highlighting further areas for improvement. Based on the findings of the report, EFSA’s Management Board will adopt a series of recommendations at their meeting in October. Among the areas of progress noted in the report, the evaluators welcomed EFSA’s new mechanisms for engagement with stakeholders, initiatives in the field of access to data and a strengthened independence policy. EFSA’s cooperation with Member State authorities and other risk assessors at the international level was also welcomed. Recommendations for improvement relate to EFSA’s mechanisms for prioritizing resources, the economic viability of the system for recruiting experts and tailoring its communication outputs more closely to the needs of different audiences.

Appointments and milestones
PureCircle, the world’s leading producer and innovator of stevia sweeteners, has appointed Stéphane Ducroux as Chief Commercial Officer effective August 16, 2018. Ducroux will oversee PureCircle’s: Sales; Marketing; Technical & Innovation; and Scientific & Regulatory Affairs. Ducroux will report to PureCircle CEO Maga Malsagov. He will be based in PureCircle’s Chicago headquarters. Ducroux has 20 years of management experience in the natural specialty ingredients industry. He has expertise in commercial operations, business development and acquisitions. He previously had a long career at Naturex, during which time the company grew strongly. His last job at Naturex was COO Americas and Asia-Pacific.

Amy Jackson, Tate & Lyle Bakery Technologist, is one of five shortlisted contenders for the title ‘Food Scientist of the Year’ in the UK Food and Drink Federation Awards 2018. Jackson has been shortlisted for her work helping bakers across the UK and Europe to reduce sugar, fat and calories in their cakes, biscuits and other baked goods. From Tate & Lyle’s technical service center and ingredient blending facility in Mold, Flintshire, Jackson has adapted hundreds of product recipes to improve their nutrition profile without compromising taste or texture, before helping bakery customers to implement these changes at their sites. In a recent project, she helped a bakery to reduce sugar by 10-15% in a range of own brand cakes that it makes for a major UK supermarket using a Tate & Lyle fibre and stabiliser blend. The supermarket sells around two million cakes each year meaning that, with this project alone, Jackson has helped to remove around 25 tons of sugar from UK consumers’ diets.

Traceability and sustainability
Royal DSM, a global science-based company active in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living, again made Fortune Magazine’s 2018 Change the World list, an annual recognition of companies that have a positive social impact through their core business strategy. DSM was featured for the third consecutive year. Fortune highlighted Veramaris, DSM’s joint venture with Evonik, for its innovative omega-3 fatty acids made from natural marine algae rather than fish oil from wild caught fish. Developed for animal nutrition applications, Veramaris helps support life below water by reducing impact on ocean resources. 

Agriculture technology and rural e-commerce company, Origin Agritech Ltd. has started new cooperation programs with other seed suppliers in China to integrate the company’s GMO traits with the seed varieties from other suppliers. “This is a significant step forward for the commercialization of our GMO technologies. As more and more corn seed suppliers are realizing the value of GMO technology, they start to work with us in order to get ready to license our GMO technologies,” says Dr. James Chen, Origin’s Chief Executive Officer. Origin is the leading technology provider for corn seed GMO technologies in China. According to the “Thirteenth Five Year State Science and Technology Innovative Plan” published by the Chinese government in 2016, the Chinese government set to target the commercialization of corn seed GMO technologies during the central government’s Thirteenth Five-Year Plan, which ends in 2020. Additionally, the recent crackdowns of illegal GMO seeds of several high profiled corn seed providers by the Chinese government help the government to pave the way for full commercialization of the corn seed GMO technology. 

Tyson Foods has selected FoodLogiQ Connect’s Manage + Monitor product for global supply chain visibility, streamlined supplier management, and quality issue tracking and reporting. FoodLogiQ is a leading SaaS provider of food safety compliance, whole chain traceability, and supply chain transparency solutions. Tyson Foods’ selection of FoodLogiQ Connect for its supplier management needs was a natural progression of a developing relationship, according to Dr. Scott Stillwell, Senior Vice President of Food Safety and Quality Assurance for Tyson Foods, Inc. Tyson Foods’ food safety team recently joined a number of well-known food industry leaders as a participant in FoodLogiQ Lab’s new Blockchain pilot. Meanwhile, the Tyson Ventures team, the venture capital arm of Tyson Foods, is one of several prestigious companies to provide investor funding to FoodLogiQ during its B round of investment. Both teams were impressed by the FoodLogiQ product and its focus on mapping the world’s food supply chain.

Rabobank, a leading global bank in food & agri and sustainability has announced the launch of the Food Loss Challenge Asia. Debuting in Asia, the open innovation Challenge will see disruptive start-ups present their ag-tech solutions to reduce food loss to a platform of leading Food & Agri industry leaders, investors and other start-ups. The Challenge aims to address the global problem of food loss. Every year, 1.3 billion tons of food is lost worldwide while the world's population is expected to increase by 2 billion people to over 9 billion people. To meet the increased demand for food, global food production will have to increase by at least 60 percent, while at the same time arable land and natural resources are nearing their limits. To address this fundamental concern, Rabobank is committed to contributing to one of the most pressing issues identified by the UN Sustainable Development Goals to halve food loss by 2030. Against this backdrop, Rabobank Asia is launching the Food Loss Challenge Asia, an initiative to facilitate constructive dialogue between solutions providers, F&A corporates and smallholder farmers.

Edited by Robin Wyers