Roha USA LLC, St. Louis, announced the completion of an expansion to its production facility in St. Louis. Designed to meet or exceed all food safety and quality requirements, Roha currently is pursuing Safe Quality Food (SQF) Level 3 certification for the facility.

Emerging research from Cargill, Minneapolis, published online in Nutritional Neuroscience, found that participants who drank a beverage containing sucromalt better maintained feelings of mental and physical energy over time compared with when they consumed a beverage made with glucose. Cargill’s Xtend sucromalt is a fully caloric carbohydrate syrup that is 70 percent as sweet as sugar and ideal for use in foods and beverages in which steadier energy delivery or an attenuated blood glucose response is desired because it is slowly digestible and has a low glycemic index.

BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany, has reached an agreement with Pronova BioPharma ASA, Lysaker, Norway, to acquire the company for approximately $862 million. The acquisition would give BASF a leading position in the omega-3 fatty acids market.

PureCircle, Chicago, announced that Health Canada has authorized the use of stevia in foods and beverages in Canada. PureCircle was instrumental in the approval of the natural, no-calorie sweetener as a food additive, taking a leadership role to apply and define regulatory approval of steviol glycosides with Health Canada, it says. Prior to its Nov. 30 approval, stevia was only available as a natural health product. The food additive approval follows Health Canada’s evaluation of the extensive data supporting the safety and efficacy of steviol glycosides as a sweetener for food and beverages.

UniK2, a natural vitamin K2 MK-7 from Frutarom Health, Switzerland, has obtained self-affirmed generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status based on a critical evaluation and acceptance by a qualified, independent scientific panel. It now can be utilized as a food ingredient for dairy products, soy milk, fruit drinks and sport drinks as well as in baked and bar products such as quick breads, muffins and nutritional bars.

 Ajinomoto Co. Inc., Tokyo, announced that the European Union Commission published the Implementing Decision authorizing the placing on the market of dihydrocapsiate (DHC) as a novel food ingredient under Regulation (EC) No 258/97 of the European Parliament and of the Council. DHC has held GRAS status from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a food ingredient since March 2009.