Parsippany, N.J.-based BENEO, a leading manufacturer of functional ingredients, announced the appointments of Juliana Hirata as area sales manager for the U.S. and Canada, and of Thomas Weber as area sales manager for Latin America. In her new role, Hirata will assume responsibility for the U.S. and Canadian food business and lead the U.S. sales team. Weber will lead the business in Latin America that includes the recently combined markets of Mexico, Central and South America. The appointments are effective as of Sept. 1. In her new role, Hirata will draw on her experience with market-specific solutions to work with BENEO’s partners and direct customers to focus on delivering a new wave of healthy and consumer-trending solutions for the U.S. and Canada markets, the company says. In his new position, Weber will deliver his expertise beyond Mexico to collaborate with customers and partners throughout Central and South America, it notes. 

Chicago-based ADM and Olivette, Mo.-based Benson Hill Inc. announced a long-term strategic partnership to scale innovative soy ingredients that will help meet the rapidly growing demand for plant-based proteins. The partnership will serve a variety of plant-based food and beverage markets to meet savory, sweet and dairy customer needs, the companies say. Through the collaboration, ADM will process and commercialize a portfolio of proprietary ingredients derived from Benson Hill Ultra-High Protein (UHP) soybeans through an exclusive North American licensing partnership. “We’re excited to launch this collaboration with Benson Hill, building full seed-to-fork capabilities with cutting-edge technologies that will allow us to offer new, innovative products to our alternative protein customers,” said Leticia Gonçalves, ADM’s president of global foods, in a statement. Benson Hill’s CropOS technology platform brings together powerful data analytics and biological knowledge to combine the genetic information of a plant, formulation needs of a customer, and data from farmers to help develop more nutritious, flavorful and sustainable ingredients, the company says. 

Port Washington, N.Y.-based Pall Corp., a leader in filtration, separation and purification technology, announced it is supplying the filtration solution for EverGrain’s new large-scale plant-based protein facility in St. Louis. The new EverGrain facility focuses on upcycling brewer’s saved grains with Pall Membralox Microfiltration System, which uses ceramic membranes with gradient permeability to purify the valuable protein, the company notes. The purified high-functional protein, previously used for animal feed, now can be converted into nutritious, plant-friendly ingredients for other food products, it says. “Plant-based and other alternative proteins continue to grow in importance as global protein consumption rapidly increases. Through our partnership with EverGrain, we’ve been able to apply our advanced microfiltration technology to upcycle brewer’s saved grain into a valuable protein source that can be used in a variety of other foods and beverages,” said Dan Huntsberger, vice president and general manager of food and beverage at Pall, in a statement.