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.