September/October 2023 - 22

THE PULSE
INDUSTRY
INSIDER
FDA names top food official
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has named
James Jones as its first Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods
as part of an ongoing restructuring of the agency's Human
Foods Program.
Jones, who has held various positions at the EPA for 30 years
and served on a panel that evaluated the HFP in December 2022,
will begin his new role on Sep. 24, and he will have oversight of all
budget and resource allocations for the program. He will direct HFP
areas including food safety, chemical safety and innovative food
products, according to an FDA.
In February, the FDA announced sweeping changes to counter
criticism of its organizational structure in a report from the ReaganUdall
Foundation, a group tied to but separate from the FDA, which
called for an overhaul of the agency's leadership and culture. Jones
served as a member of the foundation's Independent Expert Panel
for Foods.
protection are available.
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shells, bottles and cans, as well as additional formats, according
to the release.
Stainless steel construction and three levels of washdown
Potato processor investing $415M in new
production line
Lamb Weston Holdings is investing $415 million in a new french
fry processing line at its plant in American Falls, Idaho.
The new line will expand the facility's production capacity to more
than 350 million pounds of frozen french fries and other potato
products per year, according to a news release from the company.
The new line is expected to be completed by mid-2023,
according to the release, and will create 130 jobs. The expansion
will include additional modernization of the facility, built in 1961.
CropX names chief revenue
officer
John Gates, an agricultural technology
Global engineered equipment company Duravant
acquires NPI
Global engineered equipment and automation company
veteran has joined agronomic farm
management company CropX as chief
revenue officer.
Gates, who previously held leadership
roles in Europe and North America,
will oversee CropX's global commercial
expansion and lead global sales and
revenue operations.
CropX, with offices and employees on five continents, connects farm
John Gates
data, real-time conditions and agronomic knowledge, aggregating all
data to aid sustainable farming, according to its website.
Gates previously served as interim CEO of CropX's European
division, which includes Dacom Farm Intelligence.
Duravant has acquired National Presort LP, a Texas-headquartered
manufacturer of automated parcel sortation systems.
NPI has manufactured modular, high-speed sortation systems
for industries including e-commerce, courier, parcel post,
warehouse and fulfillment operations for more than 45 years,
according to a news release. Its sorting equipment features a
sliding shoe and slat design and is engineered to precisely sort
flats, poly bags, boxes, irregularly shaped parcels and mixed mail
at speeds of up to 24,000 pieces per hour
Industry veteran Garvey joins Vive Crop Protection
Industry veteran Chris Garvey has joined
Vive Crop Protection as global business
development director.
Garvey, with 40 years of industry
JLS to debut new technology at PACK EXPO
Robotic systems packaging producer JLS is debuted a new case
and tray carton loader at PACK EXPO Sept. 11-13 in Las Vegas.
The Hawk is compact, maximizing production floor space, and
features a toolless changeover to allow recipe changes in less
than a minute, according to a news release.
Along with standard case and tray loading, the Hawk works
well with flow-wrapped or bagged products, trays, bars, clam
22 SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER 2023
experience in corporate strategy, business
general management, sales and marketing,
business development and technology
leadership roles, founded a consulting
firm and also served in numerous roles at
Corteva Agriscience, according to a news release.
Vive, based in Toronto, develops new products based on existing
Chris Garvey
active ingredients for pesticides using its patented Allosperse
technology.
http://www.produceprocessing.net
September/October 2023

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