Cognis and Wild have signed agreements for Europe and the United States on global cooperation in the field of food applications. The companies say they will jointly develop new products and systems and will work closely together in the field of marketing and sales. There will be a particular focus on the beverage, nutritional bars, sweets and ice-cream industries, and Cognis ingredients will be incorporated into Wild’s flavor systems and fruit preparations. As part of the agreements, joint technical project teams also will be created.

David Michael de Mexico SA DE CV has been selected as the winner of the 2005 Whitehill Cup award in honor of its 45 percent growth. The Whitehill Cup award was established by David Michael, Philadelphia, to recognize the international subsidiary that attained the highest growth rate in the fiscal year.

P.L. Thomas, Morristown, N.J., has created a strategic alliance with Polifenoles Naturales S.L. (Polinat) to develop and market ingredients for the nutraceutical, food and beverage markets. PLT markets a range of Polinat's fruit extracts including Pomegranate P40p.

FFG Industries Inc., Upper Saddle River, N.J., has purchased the assets of Western Flavors and Fragrances Inc., Livermore, Calif. WFF is a developer, manufacturer and supplier of flavors and fragrances to the domestic and international markets for use in a wide variety of consumer products.

FONA International was named one of Chicago’s 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For by the National Association for Business Resources.

The European Union’s food safety agency last month dismissed findings by an Italian cancer research group that found aspartame increased the risk for cancer. According to Reuters, the agency said its review found no conclusive evidence that aspartame increased cancer risks, and although it did cause kidney damage in the rats tested, this would not happen from human consumption.

Food Ingredient Solutions, Barnhart, Mo., has selected Gary Morris as Midwest and key account manager. Morris previously served as national sales manager for CP Kelco and was North American commercial director for Sensient.

Leslie K. Thompson has been named operations manager for the Silliker Food Science Center in South Holland, Ill. She will be responsible for laboratory products, methods development, lab quality assurance, and operations. Todd Dechter has been appointed auditing account manager, and

Dianne West auditing client service manager for Silliker.

Mastertaste Inc., Teterboro, N.J., has named Markus Eckert vice president, technical for flavors, North America. He will be responsible for all research and development initiatives and will work with the natural products and fragrance divisions on commercialization of technologies. Juan Varela has joined the company as vice president of global key accounts for the natural products and fragrance divisions. Ton Mesters has been selected as vice president of business development of citrus products for Mastertaste’s Natural Products Division.

Frutarom USA Inc., North Bergen, N.J., has named Michael Britten-Kelly vice president of research and development. He previously served as vice president and business manager of Aroma Chemicals. Tim Gulstrom has been promoted to vice president, corporate sales and business manager for Fruitarom’s Division 2, covering Aroma Chemicals, citrus products and other products from Israel, Swiss Distillates and the United Kingdom.