Roughly a year after Dannon announced its Dannon Pledge, a commitment to more natural ingredients and product transparency, the company has successfully transformed its yogurt-making process; the company has announced that its Dannon® brand Whole Milk Yogurts and Plain Quarts, as well as its Danimals® Smoothies, are now Non-GMO Project Verified.
Sergio Fuster, President U.S. Yogurt, DanoneWave
“We hear that consumers increasingly want to know what’s in the products they buy and how they’re made. One of the ambitions of the Dannon Pledge was to provide consumers with yogurt choices that support the transparency they have been asking for. As a subsidiary of DanoneWave Public Benefit Corporation, the largest public benefit corporation in the U.S., we’re making changes to our business to answer that demand. One key step is Non-GMO Project verification of select Dannon products,” said Sergio Fuster, President of DanoneWave’s yogurt team, in a press release. “By working closely with organizations like the Non-GMO Project, we’re offering consumers more food choices that match their preferences.”
The aforementioned Dannon products will now begin to feature the Non-GMO Project Verified seal with its recognizable butterfly icon—a seal signifying that products are in compliance with the Non-GMO Project standard and are made with milk from cows fed non-GMO feed. To qualify for the Non-GMO Project Verified seal, Dannon worked closely with its dairy farmer partners and ingredient suppliers to successfully navigate the rigorous evaluation process established by the Non-GMO Project, North America’s most rigorous third-party verification system for non-GMO food and products.
Dannon products soon to be available featuring the Non-GMO Project Verified seal include:
- Dannon Whole Milk Yogurt – Available in single-serve (5.3 oz each), multi-packs and/or 32 oz sizes in Strawberry, Strawberry Banana, Vanilla and Peach varieties.
- Dannon Plain Yogurt Quarts – Available in full fat, lowfat and nonfat varieties.
- Danimals Smoothies – Available in multi-packs of six bottles and more (3.1 fl oz each serving) in a range of flavors, including Strawberry, Strawberry Banana, Strawberry Kiwi, Cotton Candy, Raspberry, and Orange Cream varieties.
“At the Non-GMO Project, we’re dedicated to building and protecting a non-GMO food supply and providing consumers with non-GMO choices.” said Megan Westgate, Executive Director of the Non-GMO Project. “Aligning with a large and respected brand like Dannon is an incredible opportunity to inspire change across the industry to provide more non-GMO food choices to U.S. consumers.”
Dannon said, in its press release, that the verification process was a serious undertaking; achieving this milestone required Dannon to work with its dairy farmer partners to develop the needed non-GMO feed for cows. An estimated 80,000 acres of U.S. farmland is needed to cultivate the new supply, the company noted, and Dannon has relied on expertise and guidance from Green America to help develop that supply, and a video available at www.DannonPledge.com includes some of the pioneering farmers working with Dannon to serve the evolving preferences of consumers.
Alisa Gravitz, President & CEO, Green America
“The scale at which Dannon is working is impressively large and we are pleased to be able to assist them to find the right partners to work with to ensure that America’s leading yogurt maker continues to bring new choices to shoppers, while deepening their sustainability practices,” said Alisa Gravitz, President and CEO of Green America.
Announced in April of 2016, the Dannon Pledge is Dannon’s commitment to a range of progressive practices focused on sustainable agriculture, transparency, and naturality. The company noted that the DanoneWave portfolio of Non-GMO Project Verified products is growing—and DanoneWave’s offers various exclusively organic brands, such as Horizon and Earthbound Farm.
