Derrick Teal  I  Editor-in-Chief

This month’s issue marks the return of our annual Top 100 Food and Beverage companies list. As we were in the middle of putting it all together for the issue, the news of Mars acquiring Kellanova was announced. The purchase was clearly too late to move the needle for this year’s rankings, but I have a feeling it’s going give Mars a solid play for a slot in the top five next year. The company did already manage to move up six slots to get into the top 10 this year, so the odds are looking good with the acquisition of another top 50 company that it’s going to happen. Will it be enough to break into the top three? Only time will tell.

This also puts us squarely in the middle of our busiest time of year, editorially speaking. This month it’s the Top 100, last month was the Construction Survey and next month will be the State of Manufacturing. While they all have value individually, it’s when they’re used together that we can get a truly meaningful look at what’s going on in the food and beverage industry. If you have any questions about it, you can check out our Top 100 webinar on Sept. 19.

Finally, we are now accepting submissions for our 2025 Plant of the Year competition. We’ve made a few small tweaks, one of which is the timeframe for when projects need to have been completed. Entries are being accepting until Oct. 25. You can find out more and enter your project here: https://www.foodengineeringmag.com/nominate-plant-of-the-year. FE