Seneca Foods Corporation and Pacific Coast Producers announced Thursday they have terminated the asset purchase agreement between the companies. As a result, Pacific Coast Producers will not acquire the Modesto, CA facility and associated business from Seneca Foods.

Food processing and packaging company Tetra Pak has released the newest edition of its Dairy Processing Handbook—an industry reference book providing guidance on the key operational steps of dairy processing.

The natural and organic food segment is booming and big box stores are taking notice. According to Packaged Facts, Target recently informed its top suppliers—such as Campbell Soup, General Mills, and Kellogg—that the retailer intends to deemphasize popular processed brands in favor of products more in line with consumer demands, specifically healthier foods.

As the recent trend among food companies to strip themselves of additives and excess ingredients under consumer pressure, Taco Bell has become the latest company to pledge a commitment to offering more options with simpler ingredients and fewer additives.

Hormel Foods Corporation announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the natural and organic prepared meats producer Applegate Farms, LLC for $775 million.

 ConAgra pleaded guilty to introducing Peter Pan and private-label peanut butter contaminated with Salmonella into interstate commerce during the 2006 through 2007 outbreak. 

 NPD Group researchers find more than 50 percent of consumers in the US say they have some level of concern about avian flu. 

 Four lanes of pneumatically actuated clamping devices and blade stops control the traffic of four rows of product and merge them to one lane for delivery to a palletizing system.