Wayne Labs

Albertsons president and chief operating officer Jim Donald has been appointed president and chief executive officer of Albertsons Companies. Chairman and CEO Robert Miller remains as chairman of the Board.

Fonterra, a New Zealand-based dairy co-op, has instituted a new way for employees to spend time outside their day jobs on internal company projects which would normally be outside their scope of work as defined by their job description. This match-making system is designed to enable employees with talent and skills they don’t normally use to get involved in projects that are exciting, but normally not open to them.

Tyler Cundiff, vice president of business development in Gray Construction’s food and beverage market, received the Construction Management Founders Society’s Young Construction Engineer of the Year Award at a reception held by the University of Kentucky’s College of Engineering.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has notified FDA that Perry Johnson Registrars Food Safety Inc. (Troy, MI) has become the first certification body to be accredited under FDA’s Accredited Third-Party Certification Program for four program scopes. They include Produce Safety, Preventive Controls for Human Food, Juice HACCP and Seafood HACCP.

Hometown Food Company, a wholly-owned portfolio company of Brynwood Partners VIII L.P., has completed the $375 million deal to acquire the exclusive rights to the Pillsbury branded shelf-stable baking and dessert products and use of the Pillsbury Doughboy in these categories.

The Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) Leadership Council recently met to refuel industry discussions due to recent events having put a new spotlight on traceability, including recent foodborne illness outbreak investigations, release in Canada of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations and projects exploring the benefits of Blockchain for the food supply chain.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a contract between Exportadora de Sal, S.A. de C.V. (ESSA), and Packsys, S.A. de C.V. (Packsys) is not binding because it was not agreed to by ESSA's board of directors.