Spectrum Organic Products' (Pomona, Calif.) California Extra Virgin Organic Olive Oil has won a gold medal at the L.A. County Fair's Extra Virgin Olive Oils of the World Competition in the Manzanilla Blends category.

The International Lecithin & Phospholipid Society announced that Willem Van Nieuwenhuyzen was elected to fill the newly created executive director position for a term of three years.

The IZZE Beverage Company (Boulder, Colo.) announced the hiring of Maile Buker as vice president of marketing.

Ruth's Hemp Foods (Toronto) hired C. Wesley Crain as national sales manager for the U.S.

Ruiz Foods (Dinuba, Calif.) appointed Gary G. Bell as vice president of sales and marketing--foodservice.

BEMA (Overland Park, Kan.) elected Michael Gude to the position of chairman of the BEMA board of directors; Kenneth Newsome to BEMA's executive committee as third vice chairman; and Ron Bean, Len Kilby and Kurt Miller to three-year terms on the board of directors. In addition, BEMA relocated its administrative headquarters to Overland Park, Kan., a suburb of Kansas City. The new address and phone numbers are 7101 College Boulevard; Suite 1505; Overland Park, KS 66210; phone: 913-338-1300 and fax: 913-338-1327.

KGK Synergize Inc. (KGK, London, On.) named Dr. Rinee Mukherjee to its team of scientists. Mukherjee will head the company's new product development (NPD) division, bringing new nutraceutical products to market.

Continental Packaging Solutions (Chicago) hired Jack Corcoran as packaging consultant. Corcoran will manage Continental's presence on the east coast of the U.S. from New York/New Jersey to Florida.

LesserEvil Snack Company (Santa Fe, N.M.) is now being carried by United Natural Foods Inc.

Ocean Cuisine International (Danvers, Mass.) has been appointed the exclusive marketing agent for Canadian Mussels Ltd.'s line of frozen vacuum pack mussels. Through Ocean Cuisine's sales network, Canadian Mussels products will now extend across the North American marketplace. Ocean Cuisine will manage the marketing, sales, distribution and supply-chain functions related to the mussels.

John Cope's Food Products Inc. (Rheems, Pa.) has retained Equity Partners Inc. of Maryland (EPI) to seek an investor, partner, or buyer for its food processing and manufacturing company.

Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM, Decatur, Ill.) acquired additional patents for the combination of soy protein and sterols in functional foods.

Institut Rosell (Montreal) has signed an agreement with U.K. distributor Quest Vitamins Ltd. (Birmingham, U.K.) for the exclusive rights in the U.K. to launch capsules based on probiotic Lp299v into health food stores and professional therapists.

Frutarom USA Inc. (North Bergen, N.J.) named Luc Hobson as the company's Canadian sales representative for all of Frutarom USA's divisions. The company also selected Eugene “Gene” Jezek as functional food account executive. In addition, Frutarom purchased the flavoring extracts business of A.M. Todd Botanical Therapeutics (Logan, Utah).

Hunter Associates Laboratory Inc. (Reston, Va.) added Dave Quinn of Qwest Scientific Group to its sales team, representing the company in California, Nevada and Hawaii.

Food Marketing Institute (Washington) named Claudia Peters vice president of communications and marketing.

Vegetable Juices Inc. (Bedford Park, Ill.) hired James E. Hurley as president and CEO.

Silliker Inc. (Homewood, Ill.) opened a new food testing facility in Cypress, Calif.

Faribault Foods (Minneapolis) completed the acquisition of the fruit juice division of SoftPac Industries (Elk River, Minn.).

Riviana Foods Inc. (Houston) has begun expanding its wild rice facilities at Gourmet House in Clearbrook, Minn.

Kahiki Foods (Columbus, Ohio) named Alan Hoover acting president, following the death of Michael Tsao.

Wils Oats Markets Inc. (Boulder, Colo.) selected Dan Bolstad as senior vice president of operations.