Virginia Dare, Brooklyn, N.Y., and We-e Flavors of China signed a joint venture agreement Dec. 31, 2012, to establish a new, full-service flavor company based in Shanghai. The new venture will allow both companies to better capitalize on business opportunities in China and will bring customers benefits such as new flavor offerings, expanded knowledge of both global and Chinese markets, and new product concepts. The venture will use the new Chinese name “wei yi wei de” along with the Virginia Dare name and will operate from the site of the former We-e Flavors facility just south of Shanghai. The facility has full flavor creation, product application and production capabilities, the companies say.

Flavorchem Corp., Downers Grove, Ill., announced that it has achieved Safe Quality Food (SQF) Level 3 certification. This certification requires a quality plan, which extends the ideal of quality beyond product characteristics, and commercial realization, which ensures that product safety and quality tenets are followed throughout the developmental processes until a product reaches the market.

Terry Laboratories, Melbourne, Fla., introduced its NaturLock System, which retains a large percentage of total polysaccharides in aloe vera and exhibits a molecular weight distribution that more closely mimics natural aloe vera, it says.

St. Louis-based Roha Food Colors, a unit of Roha Group, appointed TCR Industries, La Palma, Calif., as its distributor for the West Coast.

Chemco Products Co., Paramount, Calif., and Flo-Kem, Rancho Dominguez, Calif., announced a merger agreement, which took effect Jan. 1. The parent company is LMC Enterprises, doing business as Chemco Products Co. and Flo-Kem. 

Salt Lake City-based Albion Human Nutrition, manu-facturer of “Six Stage” chelated minerals, hired BrandHive as its integrated marketing and public relations agency.

Ingredion Inc., Westchester, Ill., announced the publication of its “Novel Ingredient Solutions for Removing Weighting Agents” whitepaper, which presents the company’s novel ingredient solutions designed to deliver high oil load and stable emulsification without the need for weighting agents, which are increasingly being removed from beverages because of potential concerns relating to their chemical compositions and process inconvenience, the company says.

Paramus, N.J.-based Oceans Omega LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mycell Technologies LLC and supplier of stabilized omega-3 EPA and DHA ingredients to the dietary supplement, food and beverage markets, has entered into a supply agreement with DSM Nutritional Products, Parsippany, N.J., for the production of Oceans Omega’s OTEC emulsion ingredients.

Newport Beach, Calif.-based Layn USA, a subsidiary of Guilin Layn Natural Ingredients Corp., announced that it has met the volume and revenue milestones set forth in its agreement with Minneapolis-based Cargill for contract manufacturing of its stevia leaf-based Truvia sweetener in China.

Sensient Technologies Corp., Milwaukee, promoted Mark Goldschmidt to the position of corporate director of quality and product safety.

D.D. Williamson, Louisville, Ky., hired Laura Medina as customer support scientist at the company’s Global Support Center in Louisville.

Philadelphia-based Ottens Flavors appointed Negin Sharafbafi as senior food technologist on the company’s innovation team. The company also named Steffen Scheide senior flavorist in its savory group.