Milling & Baking News - March 12, 2019 - 12

Business

With certification in Fresno, Miller
Milling enters organic flour market
MINNEAPOLIS - Miller Milling Co.,
the fourth largest wheat flour miller
by capacity in the United States, has
decided to enter the organic wheat
flour market.
The company announced on March
4 that it has achieved an organic certification at its Fresno, Calif., facility
and may soon add other locations.
"We are excited that Miller Milling
Company, L.L.C. now has the ability and opportunity to serve our customers' organic flour needs," said Jeff
Thomas, president and chief executive
officer. "Through the launch of Miller's Yosemite Organics flour product
line, we will be able to meet customer
demands for consistent, high quality
organic wheat flours through leveraging our strategic mill locations and
supply chain, building on Miller's

legacy of excellent product quality
and customer service.
"We are committed to the growth
and development of the Yosemite
Organics product line across our
California network and will
expand our organic offerings
elsewhere, pending customer
needs and opportunities."
Miller Milling Co. planned
to launch its Yosemite Organics brand at the Natural
Products Expo West on March 5 in
Anaheim, Calif.
Through this product line, Miller
Milling said it will have bread flour,
bakers flour and tortilla flour available, as well as whole wheat flours
in a high and low protein offering. It
also will have organic semolina and
durum flour available.

King's Hawaiian settles second
infringement suit against Aldi
LOS ANGELES - Sweet bread maker
King's Hawaiian has reached an agreement with the grocery chain Aldi over
a packaging lawsuit filed in November
2018 in a Los Angeles federal court. Terms
of the settlement were not disclosed.
The baking company alleged that Aldi
was infringing on its intellectual property
rights by selling sweet Hawaiian bread
stuffing mix in bright orange packaging
that was too similar to King's Hawaiian's
design. The lawsuit also alleged that the
grocer had violated an earlier agreement
made with King's Hawaiian.
This is the second time the baking

company has taken legal action
against the grocer. In 2015, King's
Hawaiian and Aldi reached a settlement after the baking company accused the grocery chain of
selling sweet rolls in packaging
that closely resembled its own.
John Linehan, president and
chief strategy officer of King's
Hawaiian, said the company
is pleased with the settlement
and with the resolution of the
lawsuit.
"The King's Hawaiian packaging trade dress is one of

KING'S HAWAIIAN

Ingredion acquires potato starch
producer based in Washington
WESTCHESTER, ILL. - Ingredion Inc.
has acquired the operations of Western
Polymer, a privately-held producer of
native and modified potato starches for
food and industrial applications. Financial terms of the transaction were not
disclosed.
Founded in 1952, Western Polymer is
based in Moses Lake, Wash., and operates three U.S. manufacturing locations in
Moses Lake, Wash.; Fairfield, Maine; and
Grand Forks, N.D. Along with supplying native and modified potato starches
for food and industrial applications, the
12 / March 12, 2019

Milling & Baking News

company also produces modified tapioca
starch for industrial applications and cationic starch for the paper industry.
"We're excited to leverage the strengths
of Western Polymer and Ingredion to continue developing high-quality ingredients that align with consumer trends and
customers' needs," said Lynn TownsendWhite, president and chief executive officer of Western Polymer. "By coming
together now, this enables even greater
reach for our ingredients and positions
the business for continued growth."
The acquisition of Western Polymer

According to Sosland Publishing
Company's 2019 Grain & Milling Annual, Miller Milling's daily milling
production capacity is 106,000 cwts.
It operates six wheat flour mills, two
durum mills and one barley mill in the
United States.
On March 1, Miller Milling's parent
company, Tokyo-based Nisshin Seifun Group Inc., announced
an agreement to acquire
Australia's Allied Pinnacle
from Pacific Equity Partners, a
move that Nisshin said will make
it the largest flour milling company in Oceania. Financial terms
of the transaction were not disclosed,
though media reports suggested the
deal was valued at just under A$1 billion ($710.5 million).
Based in Rhodes, Australia, Allied
Pinnacle is Australia's largest end-toend bakery ingredient supplier with a
strong presence in flour, premixes and
prepared bakery products. MBN

our most valuable assets, and King's Hawaiian has assembled a top-notch, twofirm legal team to protect and to enforce
our intellectual property rights in
the trade dress," Mr. Linehan said.
"We have invested significant
time and resources, and it is our
intent that this legal team will
vigorously pursue any infringement of our trade dress
any time, in any place, and at
any cost."
Since 2015, King's Hawaiian
has resolved similar packaging lawsuits across the United States against companies
that include Sprouts Farmer's
Market, Alpha Baking Co. and
Pan-O-Gold Baking Co. MBN
will expand Ingredion's potato starch
manufacturing capacity, enhance processing capabilities and broaden its higher-value specialty ingredients business
and customer base, Ingredion said.
"This next phase of growth is consistent with other actions we've taken to
strengthen our specialties business and
deliver long-term value for our shareholders," said James P. Zallie, president
and c.e.o. of Ingredion. "This acquisition expands our higher-value specialty
ingredients business, which is central to
Ingredion's growth strategy. We have tremendous respect for the culture and business that Western Polymer has built, and
we look forward to the future opportunities that we will create together." MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com

Milling & Baking News - March 12, 2019

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