Minneapolis-based Cargill Incorporated acquired Cerestar which represents a 56 percent shareholding of the Montedison group of Italy, global manufacturer of starches, sweeteners and derivatives. Cargill will now file a public tender offer for the remaining 44 percent held publicly.

Dale Seiberling received the 2002 International Association of Food Industry Suppliers (IAFIS) Distinguished Service Award. In a career that has spanned more than 50 years, Seiberling’s innovations have won him four patents for a separator disc washer, a continuous curd producing system, a fixed ball-type spray cleaning device and a continuous standardizing/blending system for dairy products.

Presented at the Association’s annual conference held recently in San Diego, CA, the award has been presented seven times since 1989.

Tyson Foods, Inc. is purchasing a bacon-processing facility in Omaha, Nebraska. The facility employs approximately 600 people primarily involved in co-packing smoked bacon for private brands for retail and foodservice. Co-packing will continue along with manufacturing of products under brand names owned by Tyson.

AdvantaPure, manufacturer of tubing, hose, fittings and assemblies for sanitary fluid flow has appointed Don Malizia as general manager.

The Stellar Group promoted Dave Touring to director of design for the company’s distribution division and Humberto Lopez to director of project development in the process division. Touring is responsible for the design phase of project development including planning and scheduling of all construction documentation and communicating design development progress to the client. Lopez is responsible for budgeting and coordination of schedule and cost for all food processing related projects at Stellar.

Howard M. Dean of Dean Foods Company retired April 12 as director and as chairman of the board of directors. Mr. Dean worked with the firm for 37 years serving as president from 1970 to 1988 and as chairman and CEO from 1988 through 2001.

Tom Brown has been appointed director of consumer insights for all Snapple Beverage Group Brands.

The new U.S. foodservice director for Tetra Pak is Christopher M. Fabbri. He will work with customers to adapt and expand product lines. Fabbri joined Tetra Pak after seven years at Kraft Foods.

Dave Sorter is the new vice president of sales and marketing at Arca Xytec.

SSOE, Inc. named John Michalec as national account executive.