Food Safety Net Services (FSNS), San Antonio, Texas, opened a leading-edge analytical testing laboratory for the food and consumables industry.

Buyers from all major supermarkets, supercenters, drug chains, mass merchandisers, convenience stores, online retailers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, discounters and even military exchanges will be in attendance at PLMA 2019, which takes place Nov. 17-19 at the Rosemont Convention Center, Rosemont, Ill.

Alibaba Group, China, invested an additional $3.3 billion in Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, growing its majority stake in the China-based shipping affiliate.

Here's a rundown of this week's personnel announcements from McDonald's, Papa John's, Litehouse Foods, Hormel and more.

Bowery Farming, Inc., New York, raised an additional $50 million in a B+ round of financing from existing investors, including Temasek, Singapore, and Henry Kravis, co-founder of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., New York.

GEA, Germany, launched a new nitrogen freezing pilot plant for bacteria, giving food and dairy processors the opportunity to trial new technology in their own plants before investing in production-scale equipment.

enVista, Indianapolis, Ind., expanded into the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region with additional offices in Singapore and Sydney, Australia.

Ben E. Keith Co., Fort Worth, Texas, broke ground on a new foodservice distribution center in Albuquerque, N.M.

Newly released consumer research by Food Marketing Institute (FMI), Arlington, Va., and IRI, Chicago, reveals that food retail private brands have greater influence on where grocery customers shop.

Humans' overconsumption of resources – from food to transportation– is a leading contributor to global climate change, says Sabrina Helm, researcher for University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.