Danone

Danone explores kefir’s untapped potential with new Activia range

Danone has launched its first kefir range in the UK as the company aims to tackle consumer scepticism and raise awareness of the fermented dairy product’s health benefits.

Volume growth propels Danone's H1 2024 results

The French food and beverage major said its categories were growing 'faster' than the industry average in volume terms as it posted increased like-for-like sales in H1.

Financials round-up: Spotlight on Danone, Unilever, Otsuka, Kirin, a2 milk

This round-up looks at how international and regional health and nutrition companies have fared in their latest financial performance, featuring insights from Danone, Unilever, Otsuka, Kirin, and The a2 Milk Company.

Beverage giants in hot water over plastic bottle recycling claims

Environmental and consumer rights organisations are taking legal action against Nestlé, Danone, and The Coca-Cola Company, over recyclable claims made about their plastic bottles. They have raised an external alert to both the European Commission and the...

Danone targets adult gamers with move towards the metaverse: ‘It’s something of a test and learn’

Probiotic drinking yoghurt brand Actimel is making preliminary steps towards the metaverse with the launch of an in-game marketing campaign via Fortnite. “It’s a first of its kind for Actimel in raising awareness of the brand with a difference audience,”...

Danone to invest $65m in RTD coffee and creamer plant expansion in the US

Danone North America will invest up to $65m over the next two years to create a new bottle production line in Jacksonville, Florida: allowing the company to boost production of its RTD coffee brand SToK along with plant-based creamers.

‘We are very surprised by this accusation’: Danone sued over plastic pollution

The French multi-national ‘strongly refutes’ allegations it is waning on commitments to cut its plastic footprint.

Danone’s International Delight creamer targets next generation of coffee drinkers with whimsical, nostalgic flavors and partnerships

Danone North America, the maker of International Delight creamers, wants to entice the next generation of coffee drinkers who are just establishing their daily rituals with a line-up of flavors launching this holiday season and throughout the new year...

Will ‘carbon neutral’ claims land brands in legal hot water? Danone sued over Evian eco claims

Could ‘carbon neutral’ claims land food & beverage brands in legal hot water, even where they are certified by a third party such as the Carbon Trust? FoodNavigator-USA asked attorneys to weigh in after Danone Waters America found itself at the receiving...

Danone sells Danish water and beverage business Aqua d’Or to Royal Unibrew

Danone has agreed to sell its Danish water and beverage business, Aqua d’Or, to Royal Unibrew, a Denmark-based brewing and beverage company.

Danone Manifesto Ventures takes controlling stake in Harmless Harvest: ‘We want to preserve the unique DNA of the company’

Harmless Harvest and majority stakeholder Danone Manifesto Ventures (DMV) are exploring opportunities to take the organic coconut water into international markets, says CEO Ben Mand, who says the San Francisco-based brand also has the potential to...

SIG’s combismile carton pack debuts in France with new Volvic range

SIG’s on-the-go combismile carton pack enters the French market for the first time this month, with a new fruity-flavored range for adults and kids from natural mineral water brand Volvic.

Evian’s portfolio expansion: ‘Old age doesn’t mean we’re settling down and sticking with the status quo!’

Bottled water evian’s brand story goes back some 200 years: and over that time it’s been very much focused on its core natural mineral water. But this month it is expanding into new categories of sparkling flavored, functional and canned products with...

Evian launches functional, flavored sparkling canned water with evian+

Natural mineral water brand evian has launched evian+, a drink enriched with magnesium and zinc.

The best global beverage brands of 2020

Coca-Cola maintains its position in the top 10 in Interbrand’s Best Global Brands 2020 Report. But what are the other beverage brands making their mark this year?

Volvic rolls out 100% rPET bottle

Danone’s natural spring water brand Volvic will be packaged in 100% rPET bottles in Switzerland and Germany by the end of the year; while 100% rPET bottles wil be used across its whole US portfolio from 2021.

The journey to 100% rPET bottles

Danone brand evian is introducing 100% rPET bottles to the UK this week; the latest in a series of recycled plastic commitments from PepsiCo’s Naked Smoothies, Nestlé’s Buxton bottled water, and Coca-Cola GB. We explore how the move to rPET is...

Danone sees strong sales of plant-based products while small-format bottled water drops 32%

Despite headwinds from closures of away-from-home channels due the ongoing pandemic, Danone grew sales and household penetration of its US plant-based and premium dairy brands for the first half of 2020.

Danone CEO sees COVID-19 polarizing the food sector: ‘There won't be a middle class anymore’

Danone believes that the cornonavirus pandemic will result in a polarization of the food sector, as consumers trade up to healthier products in some areas and trade-down to cut household expenditure in others. “There will be a polarization of the...

Evian debuts label-free bottle

Danone’s natural mineral water brand evian has launched a new bottle with an engraved logo: a way to reduce the use of virgin plastic.

evian goes carbon neutral: 'The current health crisis provides renewed impetus to do more and create long-lasting change'

Danone natural mineral water brand evian has obtained global certification for becoming carbon neutral: the result of ‘years of ambitious reductions at every stage of the product life cycle’.

Fighting back: Fonterra, Danone, Beingmate join COVID-19 product push for sanitisers, face masks

Nutrition businesses such as Fonterra and Danone are devoting resources into making hygiene products, such as ethanol and face masks, to help meet the exceptionally high demand in light of COVID-19 spread.

Which companies have the most ambitious plastic packaging reduction targets?

We put beverage players Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Keurig Dr Pepper and Danone under the spotlight to compare their sustainable packaging targets. From rPET content to the development of innovative new materials, what does each company pledge to achieve?

News in Brief

Activia hopes to fizz up sales with live culture smoothies

Danone's yogurt giant Activia is entering the fermented food and drink category with new Live Culture Smoothies claiming to offer consumers a gut health boost.

Yakult Korea partners with Dutch firm to release functional drink with patented 'flavobiotic' formulation

Yakult Korea has collaborated with Dutch life sciences firm BioActor to develop a new dual-purpose functional beverage for the South Korean market.

Sidel opens office in Moscow to take advantage of economic ‘upswing’

Sidel has opened an office in Moscow to better serve its customers in Russia, and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Danone Brazil enters natural soft drink category with 4U launch

Danone Waters Brazil has launched 4U, a range of premium carbonated juices and flavored teas to meet demand for healthy, natural beverages in the country.

Sustainability spotlight

Past, present and future: Bottled water's journey through time

Natural mineral and spring water brands are built on their provenance, making their source a unique part of who they are. But with increasing pressure from man's impact on the planet, how are brands protecting their water for the future?

Coca-Cola, Unilever and Danone call for net zero emissions by 2050

A group of business leaders is urging the UK government to aim for net zero emissions by 2050, with Coca-Cola European Partners, Unilever and Danone among the signatories.

Bottled water

‘Sustainability and stewardship are opportunities as well as challenges’

With plastic bottles under fire, the bottled water industry is under intense scrutiny. Yet the industry is also driving forward with efforts to be more sustainable – not least with evian’s state-of-the-art carbon neutral bottling facility in the French...

‘Business as usual will not solve the plastic packaging waste challenge’

‘A vision for zero plastic packaging waste’: Danone, Nestlé and others set out industry challenge to rethink plastic

Danone, Nestlé, Suntory and other bottled water and soft drinks companies have set out their vision for a future where no plastic packaging is sent to landfill or ends up as litter. How can this be achieved?

Turning tap water into mineral water: Danone leads investment in startup Mitte

Mitte, a ‘first of its kind’ smart home water system, has secured $10.6m in financing, in a financing round led by Danone Manifesto Ventures, VisVires New Protein Capital and Kärcher New Venture.

Non-alcoholic, nutrient-fortified beer created to tackle chemotherapy side effects

A nutrient-rich, non-alcoholic beer can address the nutrients lost and changes to taste that patients face when undergoing therapy or treatments for cancer, its makers say.

Danone, Coca-Cola, Nestlé among firms to sign plastic packaging pledge

Britvic, Danone, Coca-Cola, Nestlé and PepsiCo are among more than 40 businesses that have pledged to reduce plastic packaging waste in the UK by 2025.

Harmless Harvest secures $30m led by Danone investment venture arm

Harmless Harvest, a US refrigerated premium coconut water brand, has secured $30m in growth capital from Danone Manifesto Ventures and others to support expansion plans of its organic portfolio with an emphasis on meeting sustainable quality standards.

evian to make all plastic bottles from 100% recycled content

Danone’s natural spring water brand evian will make all its bottles from 100% recycled plastic by 2025, seeking to create a completely ‘circular approach’ to plastic packaging.

Who’s on the A-list for corporate water responsibility?

Food and beverage industry boardrooms are increasingly engaging in water sustainability and investing in water security, says not-for-profit CDP. So which companies made CDP’s annual water A-list?

Spanish trade union calls for end to Danone boycott

Spain's UGT FICA trade union, which represents Danone workers, has called for the end of boycotts of Danone's products in Spain.

Sustainability spotlight

evian’s journey to become Danone’s first global carbon neutral brand

International natural mineral water brand evian recently became certified as a carbon neutral brand in the US and Canada, marking a ‘major milestone’ in evian’s journey to reach worldwide carbon neutrality by 2020. But with the impact of bottling,...

DanoneWave expands plant-based beverage production with $60m investment

DanoneWave, the newly combined business unit of Danone and WhiteWave, will invest up to $60m to expand its plant-based beverage manufacturing operations at its Mount Crawford, Virginia, facility.

Plant-based bottles & edible packaging: What does sustainability look like in the bottled water industry?

A focus on sustainability is becoming more and more important across all industry sectors: and the bottled water industry is no exception. Plant-based bottles, edible and biodegradable packaging, and programs on water stewardship are all initiatives...

Coca-Cola joins other companies in ‘New Plastics Economy’ plan with pledge of 70% recycling by 2025

Coca-Cola has pledged to boost its recycling rate of plastic packaging from 14% to 70% by 2025, as part of the New Plastics Economy, a global “rethink” and reshaping of the system behind how plastic is recycled.

News in brief

‘Find your volcano’: Volvic launches £2.2m new year campaign

Danone water brand Volvic is kicking off the new year with a marketing campaign that celebrates the brand’s volcanic heritage and ‘inspires the public to find their inner strength and achieve their goals in 2017’.

'This is the end of the beverage category as we knew it'

‘Water is not water anymore’: In a new era of beverages, where does bottled water fit in?

As the beverage sector continues to evolve, categories are blurring more than ever. Bottled water can either be left on the sidelines as  ‘the boring choice’ – or it can embrace this new era of beverages.  

Danone+WhiteWave reaction

Frost & Sullivan: ‘More dairy companies will expand into the dairy alternative category to offset flat liquid milk sales’

More dairy companies will look to expand into the dairy alternative category to offset flat liquid milk sales and take advantage of the +15% compound annual growth rate witnessed by the plant based dairy alternative category, says consulting and market...

Danone $12.5bn WhiteWave acquisition ‘comes as no surprise’ say industry specialists

Danone has entered into an agreement to acquire The WhiteWave Foods Company (WhiteWave) for approximately $12.5bn, with the transaction expected to close at the end of the year.

BASF and Avantium to produce FDCA and PEF to improve food packaging films and plastic bottles

BASF and Avantium have signed a letter of intent to establish a joint venture (JV) for the production and marketing of furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and polyethylenefuranoate (PEF).

Treofan to expand in the US as it sees growing market for five layer labels

Treofan has spent €60m in the past two years upgrading its plants in Germany, Italy and Mexico. It also has a sales office in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, US.

Coca-Cola and Danone take the lead on biobased packaging

Wageningen UR to launch public-private partnership on biobased food packaging

Wageningen UR is looking for companies to jointly launch a public-private partnership to answer questions about what consumers want in terms of biobased packaging of food products and how this can strengthen the position of a brand, citing Coca-Cola and...

Oxfam: World’s biggest food companies must ‘walk the talk’ on sustainability

Eight of the 10 biggest multinational food companies have improved their food security and sustainability policies over the past year – but all must do more to put their commitments into practice, says Oxfam’s latest Behind the Brands report.