The enormous range of new developments in functional foods and beverages presented at the exhibition makes Hi Europe & Ni an important and inspirational business platform for food retailers, drugstores and pharmacies, as well as distributors. In addition, more than 40 exhibiting companies produce ingredients and/or finished products themselves, including key players such as Glanbia Nutritionals and Stern Vitamins.

Landmark mergers and acquisitions have burst into existence in the past few months.

Prinova USA has more than 30 years of international purchasing expertise in dry blending, liquid blending, flavor manufacturing, milling & micronization, packaging, and contract manufacturing.  

With annual net sales in excess of $3 billion, Pinnacle Foods' portfolio of frozen, refrigerated and shelf-stable products includes such well-known brands as Birds Eye, Duncan Hines, Earth Balance, EVOL, Erin's, Gardein, Glutino, Hawaiian Kettle Style Potato Chips, Hungry-Man, Log Cabin, Tim's Cascade Snacks, Udi's, Vlasic and Wish-Bone, among others. Based on both companies' latest fiscal year results, pro forma net sales would have been approximately $11 billion.

Headquartered in Ohio since its founding more than 120 years ago, The J. M. Smucker Company is known for prioritizing quality and innovation. For decades, Smucker has been a leader in the food and beverage industry, a sector that accounts for 15.3 cents of every US consumer food dollar. This industry is increasingly focused on adopting innovative technologies to engage with consumers in new ways.

The food industry, more than any other consumer sector, is built molecule by molecule on trust, and the harder it is for consumers to get and understand the information they want, the less likely they are to trust. Real transparency is answering the questions people are actually asking – not telling people what you want them to hear.

Toyos carries more than 16 years of innovation and brand and business building experience. Prior to joining Kite Hill, Toyos was vice president of marketing for The J.M. Smucker Company where she led the marketing strategy, innovation agenda and business operations for the on-trend pet business unit.

“We are very proud of the growth Butter Buds has experienced under Bill’s leadership,” said John Buhler, President of Butter Buds. “We have tripled in size—expanding our workforce, applications capabilities, quality assurance and regulatory expertise to best meet the needs of our expanding customer partnerships—so that today Butter Buds is a global leader in concentrated dairy and flavor ingredients. Now as I take the reins of this fantastic company, I can’t help but look back at the work our father began forty years ago.  We have always been a family-owned company that values our greatest assets—our people, pushing for growth in new applications and innovative product development, and I can assure everyone that will not change.”

As president, Ferranti takes on more direct leadership responsibility for the strategic priorities of the business, enabling Gisel to focus increased attention on Rich’s long-term direction and organizational excellence priorities. Ferranti also maintains his role as Chief Operating Officer, overseeing the performance of the company’s various food-related businesses in more than 100 countries.

The company’s operations include two plants located in Tecumseh and Waverly, Nebraska, as well as live operations. Tyson Foods currently plans to operate Tecumseh Poultry as a separate, wholly owned subsidiary and expects to retain its approximately 600 team members, including operations staff, sales teams and management.