JBS SA has scrapped a proposal to purchase the remaining shares of its US-based subsidiary Pilgrim's Pride, according to Reuters. Pilgrim's shares fell nearly 15% after the Brazilian meatpacking giant said it would abandon the deal with the Colorado-based company. Pilgrim's refused two offers, one at $26.50 and another at $28.50 a share, claiming that the board believed the offers were not reflective of the firm's value. Back in August, JBS announced that it had proposed acquiring the remaining common shares in Pilgrim's Pride that it doesn't already own. JBS owns a 80.21% stake in the company already via subsidiaries.

MGP Ingredients has announced that it will build a new extrusion plant in Kansas to produce its ProTerra line of texturised proteins. The $16.7 million plant will be located next to the company's facility in Atchison, and is expected to produce up to 10 million pounds of ProTerra each year once it begins operations. The new plant will help MGP meet growing demand for its ProTerra product line, which includes pea and wheat protein ingredients for applications such as plant-based meat alternatives. The company – which currently uses co-packers to produce its texturised proteins – also expects the investment to give it more control over the manufacturing process. “Building this new extrusion plant gives MGP the capacity and flexibility required to continue to meet the growing demand for our ProTerra line of texturised proteins," said Michael Buttshaw, MGP's vice president of ingredient solutions sales and R&D. “By transitioning the manufacturing process in-house, we reduce lead times related to co-packer scheduling issues, increase flexibility related to R&D projects and enhance our ability to effectively commercialise new products.” Construction of the facility will begin this summer and is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

Swedish fungi protein company Mycorena has partnered with climate impact platform CarbonCloud to assess the footprint of its products. Mycorena began monitoring its emissions using CarbonCloud’s SaaS platform last year at its pilot production facility. The assessment enables the company to better understand its climate performance. The plant-based protein company – which produces its fungi-based protein, Promyc, through fermentation – has been identifying areas in which it can improve its footprint using the results. Ramkumar Nair, founder and CEO of Mycorena, said: "The core of our technology and products relies on our ambition to create an impact on how food is produced today. With this new collaborative effort with CarbonCloud, we can now detail the climate impact of our production process, keeping even the smaller steps in focus. And in the larger picture, it can showcase how Promyc, our mycoprotein, can make a difference compared to all other traditional and market-available food protein ingredients."

Fonterra has agreed on a partnership with New Zealand’s Exchange (NZX) and the European Energy Exchange (EEX) that will see each take a one-third stake in its Global Dairy Trade (GDT) platform. Founded in 2008 by Fonterra, GDT is a global dairy auction platform and is said to bring together buyers and sellers of dairy ingredients from 70 countries. Fonterra's CEO, Miles Hurrell, said: “This is good news for our farmer-owners, unitholders, and all dairy industry participants and is expected to lead to greater volumes being traded on GDT. It will bring more participants and transactions, stimulating further growth of risk management contracts available on financial trading platforms.” He continued: “We all know that dairy is one of the most volatile traded commodities. This partnership is another step in helping to manage this risk for everyone – from the farmer through to the customer at the end of the supply chain. A more liquid dairy trading environment allows for the growth of financial tools which can be used by all participants to better manage price volatility.” GDT's director, Eric Hansen, said: “The strong alignment of all three shareholding partners to GDT’s purpose of credible price discovery will support initiatives to increase liquidity on GDT, attract new supply from prominent dairy-producing regions and will strengthen GDT’s linkages to financial trading platforms.” The deal is subject to the approval of boards, clearance from European and any other relevant competition law authorities, and the finalisation of transaction documentation. The agreement is expected to be completed in mid-2022.

Cell-based meat company Aleph Farms has opened a new facility in Israel, in order to expand its operations and develop its technology. The new 65,000-square-foot facility in Rehovot is the location of Aleph Farms' new headquarters and will increase the company's operations "sixfold". The site will encompass Aleph Farms' new pilot production facility, which is set to become fully operational by summer this year, while also allowing the company to expand its R&D footprint. Aleph Farms plans to establish a new department within the site, called Aleph Frontiers, which will serve as a hub for new product development. The company hopes to commercialise its cultivated steak through its larger-scale production facilities, which are set to be built between 2022-2024. Eyal Rivlin, vice president of production and operations, said: "Aleph Farms' team is passionate about changing the world around us, one bite at a time. Our new facility enables us to scale our production capabilities and launch limited quantities of our steak around the end of the year, pending regulatory approval. We’ve worked hard to get here and it is exciting to see the infrastructure that will help bring our vision to life." The new developments follow the company's completion of a $105 million Series B funding round last year.

Organic chicken company Farmer Focus has announced the opening of a new 78,000-square-foot packaging facility in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The new plant will expand the company's production capacity by up to 100% over the next two years, to a total of 650,000 birds weekly. The site includes cold storage space and shipping dock locations, which will help Farmer Focus to keep up with growing consumer demand. The site will adhere to strict safety regulations, while leveraging technological packaging advancements. For example, JBT Spiral Freezers allow for more precise chilling of a product, while horizontal form filled seal packaging lines will increase efficiency. Bob Bahr, vice president of operations at Farmer Focus, commented: "This new facility is a living example of Farmer Focus’ commitment to quality, innovation, safety and culture. From our technological and automation investments to our design decisions, we prioritised both production efficiency and plant employees’ safety and quality of life. That diligence shows every day on our production floor and speaks to a level of safety that, in my 40 plus-year career, I’ve only seen accomplished here at Farmer Focus." The plant has created 87 new local jobs with more expected in the coming months.

Atkins has announced the launch of Atkins Protein Chips, a new line of low-carb, keto-friendly snacks that contain protein instead of carbs. The better-for-you chips are available in two flavours: Nacho Cheese and Ranch. The offerings contain 13g of protein, 4g of net carb 4g of dietary fibre. The chips are available at Walmart stores for a suggested retail price of $2.28 per bag.

Mars Wrigley has appointed Marc Carena as regional president for Europe, CIS and Turkey, succeeding Shaid Shah, who is now serving as the company's global president of food, multi sales and global customers. Most recently, Carena was managing director of McDonald's Russia, where he was responsible for over 850 restaurants and 65,000 employees. He also held several senior general manager, marketing and sales positions at Nestlé across Europe, Asia and Africa over nearly a decade. In his new role, Carena will be responsible for driving Mars' "purpose-led" growth strategy across Europe, Central Asia and Turkey, leveraging his experience in retail, foodservice and FMCG. Andrew Clarke, global president of Mars Wrigley, said: “Marc is a much-welcomed addition to the Mars Wrigley leadership team. He brings a wealth of industry expertise and has a proven track record of dynamic and enthusiastic leadership, building talented teams and delivering results across diverse markets." He continued: "As our presence across Europe, CIS and Turkey continues to go from strength to strength, I’m confident that Marc’s innovative, energetic and collaborative mindset will help our team to reach even greater heights in the near future.”

Froneri, the UK-headquartered ice cream joint venture owned by Nestlé and R&R, is expanding its Nuii ice cream stick range with a new variant – the New York cookies & cream. Nuii's New York cookies & cream flavour joins the existing range of salted caramel & Australian macadamia, dark chocolate & Nordic berry, caramel white chocolate & Texan pecan and coconut & Indian mango. Jelena Aleksic, Nuii's brand manager, said: “Whilst developing the New York cookies & cream, it proved to be a successful product concept appreciated by top connoisseurs around the world...The new product marries two much-loved sweet treats and the iconic flavours of New York.” Nuii's New York cookies & cream is available at Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Co-op stores with an RRP of £3.90 per box.

US company GT's Living Foods has introduced a new flavour under its raw kombucha brand, Synergy, to add to its extensive range. The new variant, Peach Paradise, offers a "sunny, succulent, delicate peach and tropical red papaya profile". The handcrafted beverage contains 9 billion living probiotics and is fully fermented for 30 days to ensure maximum purity and potency. Synergy's kombucha is crafted using 100% organic, raw and natural ingredients. The launch will join the brand's portfolio which includes flavours such as: Watermelon Wonder, Tangerine Dream, Guava Goddess, Tantric Tumeric and Heart Beet. Peach Paradise is available in the US in Sprouts and will be entering additional retailers in the coming months.

‘Better-for-you’ confectionery company Prodigy Snacks has announced the launch of a plant-based salted caramel chocolate egg. The new vegan offering is said to contain less than half the sugar of a typical filled egg and is free from palm oil and refined sugar. Made with natural ingredients, the chocolate egg is high in fibre to support gut health. Prodigy founder, Sameer Vaswani, said: “We’re really excited to be launching our first egg as part of our growing natural confectionery range, and are grateful to have the support of Holland & Barrett to do so. Our mission is to inspire the evolution of chocolate. We want to change the world of chocolate for the better - better for our health and better for the planet. “As well as keeping our product range as natural as possible, plant-based and avoiding the nasties such as palm oil, we are particularly passionate to show that amazing-tasting chocolate can also be significantly lower in sugar, bring prebiotic benefits through fibre and reduce the blight of long-term plastic pollution.” The egg is "plastic negative," as the brand removes ten ocean-bound plastic wrappers from the environment for every egg sold. The new product will be rolling out to more than 800 Holland & Barrett stores from the end of February and will also be available from the Prodigy website.

Multivac is planning to invest €6.8 million in a new manufacturing site in Ghiloth, India, in a move to expand its production capacity. The new complex for sales and production will cover around 10,000 square metres and is being built in Rajasthan, 120km from Delhi. The production area alone will cover around 5,000 square metres and will focus on the assembly of thermoforming packaging machines and traysealers, as well as the manufacture of dies and format sets. There are also plans to establish a separate hall area for stocking spare parts and consumable materials. Guido Spix, joint group president of Multivac, commented: "We are building up not only local production capacity, but also developing this site as a hub for the South Asia region". The aim is to provide the "optimum service to customers through regional proximity and shorter delivery times". Completion of the production site is planned for December 2022.