It's nice to see someone we wrote about early on succeed in this competitive food business world.

Baby food company Happy Family, launched on Mother’s Day 2006, announced on Mother's Day 2013 that Groupe Danone acquired 92 percent ownership of the company "for hundreds of millions of dollars," as the Wall Street Journal put it.

Food Processing reader, and self-processed 'Ramen Rater' Hans Lienesch recently visited the Wheat Marketing Center in Portland, Ore. to find out the production process – from ingredients to finished product – for the globally popular instant noodle. Lienesch shared the process on his website www.theramenrater.com and outlined not only the process but also best practices as provided by Dr. Gary Hou, an expert in the production of wheat noodles like ramen and yakisoba.

Today's parents are educated about the benefits of childhood nutrition and strive to give their kids healthier foods, but several barriers can get in the way. Food manufacturers who can help parents overcome these obstacles can help boost kids' nutrition while increasing market share.

Snack foods from Boulder Canyon Natural Foods recently joined a worldwide roster of more than 10,000 food products authorized to bear the certified gluten-free seal from the Gluten-Free Certification Organization, a program of the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America, Auburn, Wash.

Whether it's seizing an opportunity or trying to seize back a position that briefly disappeared and got replaced, the Gulf Coast Seafood Coalition wants to put genuine Gulf of Mexico-harvested seafood of every type back on restaurant menus. . .and to have you ask for it by name.

That is, American Gulf of Mexico seafood, not Mexican. All five states on the gulf (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas) are participating with funds from their states, the federal government and, indirectly at least, BP Plc.

Efforts to reduce workplace injuries and fatalities, as well as related costs to businesses, have stalled, with food and beverage manufacturing standing out as one of the most risky employment sectors, several reports from industry and government suggest.

With Chobani's massive new facility in Twin Falls, Ida., now in production, the need for westward distribution of yogurt produced in New York State likely will ease in 2013. Nonetheless, the popularity of Greek yogurt and, in particular, the New Berlin, NY-based Chobani brand, helped vault the Empire State into the No. 1 position in yogurt production in 2012, according to a report in the April 18 edition of the New York Times.

While homeowners can cheer the plummeting costs of natural gas, food processors who hoped to harvest methane from their waste streams have had to rethink renewable energy projects. Each year has brought another precipitous drop in value: the spot price of natural gas averaged $8.86 per million Btus in 2008, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports, and was selling for half that in 2010. Last year, the average spot price was $2.75/MMBtu.

Laura Daly Marketing Leader Childhood Nutrition Initiative Cargill

As the mother of three kids ages 9 to14, I know it’s a balancing act to provide them with the foods that will help them grow into healthy adults and, at the same time, satisfy their desire for things that taste good and they enjoy eating.

I grew up in a home where my mother had this down pat. She is a wonderful cook, who whipped up delicious, well-balanced family meals that we shared together at 6 o’clock every night. As a typical first generation Italian-American family of that time, pasta was practically a food group of its own at our house. In fact, my brother, sister and I took comfort in the delightful routine of knowing what to expect for dinner every Sunday and Wednesday — pasta. And my mom certainly didn’t worry that she was feeding us too many carbs, or too much sodium or fat in the meatballs and marinara sauce she served with the spaghetti.

For most of today’s parents, in the age of a heightened need for convenience, constant information and worrisome childhood obesity rates, the balancing act can be a bit more complicated. And for the companies in the food industry that are serving their needs, it is an increasingly complex challenge to do so amidst growing demands from other stakeholders in the broader food chain – government, public health organizations, NGO’s, schools,  retailers and consumers.

When I heard the Dos Equis radio spot in early April, I chuckled when I heard the latest tales of the World's Most Interesting Man's triumphs. You know WMIM, the debonaire cross between Papa Hemingway and George Hamilton who slakes his taste for something malty with double-X Mexican beer?

"His guacamole," the announcer intoned, "inspired the phrase, holy guacamole." That WMIM, what a scamp! I thought, and when the spot aired again, I told my wife, "Listen to this." But the reference was gone!