Weekly Roundup: Tyson Foods invests US$355M in bacon producing factory, S.Pellegrino strikes deal with actor Stanley Tucci

04 Feb 2022 --- This week in industry news, Tyson Foods invested in a bacon production factory, JM Smucker Co. sold its natural and organic beverage grains business and Agritask secured a funding round of US$26 million. Meanwhile, S.Pellegrino and academy award winning actor Stanley Tucci partnered to create a limited-edition range of sparkling and mineral waters.

In brief: Business moves
Tyson Foods invested US$355 million in a bacon production facility in Kentucky, US. Once operational in late 2023, the 400,000 square foot facility will meet growing demand for the company’s iconic Wright and Jimmy Dean brands. The project is part of Tyson’s commitment to meet increasing retail and foodservice demand for bacon products.

Company J.M. Smucker closed a US$110 million deal of its natural and organic beverage and grains businesses to Nexus Capital Management. The transaction involves R W Knudsen and TruRoots assets and trademarks and a licensing agreement for Santa Cruz Organic beverages. The deal includes its manufacturing and distribution facilities in Chico, California, US and Havre de Grace, Maryland. It does not include Santa Cruz Organic nut butters, fruit spreads, syrups or apple sauce.

Nutritional ingredients supplier Cambridge Commodities expanded its range of branded ingredients to include TheaGreen, a natural source of the amino acid L-theanine. Doses vary but usually green tea provides between 30 to 50 mg of theanine per two to three cups. TheaGreen is suitable for food supplements and is a good addition to cognitive function formulations for day and night products. It can be combined with caffeine for authorized European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) health claims.

Agritask secured a US$26 million funding round led by Liechtenstein Group, joined by Bridges Israel impact investment fund and Smart Agro Fund as well as existing investors including The Insuresilience Investment Fund. The company will use the funding to accelerate development of innovative products, scale up sales and marketing operations worldwide and onboard key talent for its international team. Agritask‘s SaaS Agronomic Intelligence (AgI) platform drives transparency across the agri-food value chain, including in F&B.

In brief: Other highlightsS.Pellegrino has struck a deal with actor Stanley Tucci.
S.Pellegrino struck a multi-year partnership with academy award winning actor Stanley Tucci with the release of a new campaign supporting its sparkling natural mineral water and Essenza varieties including a limited edition Stan Pellegrino bottle set. Each limited-edition bottle is engraved with Tucci’s signature and includes a S.Pellegrino cutting board and a pair of stemless water glasses. Throughout the year, S.Pellegrino and Tucci will be collaborating on a variety of programs to bring their shared love for the Italian outlook on life to fans. 

In brief: Agriculture
Agrana completed the 2021/2022 processing seasons for starch potatoes and wet corn at its Austrian starch factories. The potato starch factory in Gmünd, Austria received deliveries totalling 274,300 metric tons of starch and organic starch for processing, over the course of 104 days for the period September to December 2021. 

The starch content amounted to 19% and was significantly higher than in the previous year (2021: 18%) due to the favorable weather conditions in Autumn. A total of 131,000 metric tons of harvested corn, “wet corn”, was processed at the corn processing plant in Aschach. This was followed by a switch back to dry corn as the raw material. 

The immediate processing of wet corn is more environmentally friendly since energy-intensive drying of the raw material is not necessary. The quantity of wet corn processed meant a saving of over 3.5 million liters of heating oil for drying purposes. Besides the environmental advantage, wet corn also enables farmers to achieve a higher gross margin compared to dry corn since the drying costs are not incurred.

By Inga de Jong