According to Reuters, at a recent investor
seminar in London, Danone’s executive vice president, Francisco Camacho,
said the company expected to triple the size of its plant-based business
to 5 billion euros by 2025 from 1.7 billion euros in 2018.
We are developing our unique portfolio of health-focused and purpose-led Manifesto brands, acting as a catalyst for consumer reach. Our growth strategy focuses on valorized innovations to address some of the fastest-growing trends, notably among the younger generations. We continue to make our organizational model more efficient by empowering our people and fostering engagement.
Last year Danone acquired WhiteWave Foods for
nearly $12.5 billion and announced a plan to invest up to $60 million in WhiteWave’s manufacturing
facility in Virginia, expanding the warehouse, increasing production
capacity, and creating 49 new jobs. Operating as DanoneWave, the company has
several plant-based brands, including Silk, So
Delicious, and Vega.
Danone knows that the future is vegan. In its
efforts to purchase WhiteWave Foods quickly, the corporation dropped its animal-based dairy company Stonyfield to eliminate unfair competition with WhiteWave’s
plant-based brands.
The yogurt giant is one of many companies
taking steps to adapt to the consumer shift away from animal products. Dean
Foods, America’s largest dairy company, recently announced a
plan to shift focus to its plant-based brands, particularly the
vegan flax-based milk and yogurt label Good Karma Foods. And Elmhurst Dairy in Queens, New York, closed its
doors after 90 years in business and switched to making plant-based milks!
According to a 2013 USDA report, dairy consumption has been on the decline for decades,
with each generation consuming less milk than the one before. In fact, CBS New York reports that fluid milk
consumption has fallen a whopping 37 percent since 1970.
While dairy consumption continues to decline
and farmers are forced to turn to other industries, the plant-based market is
thriving. A 2017 report by the Plant Based
Foods Association and The Good Food Institute shows a more than 20
percent increase from the previous year in purchases of dairy alternatives, such as vegan cheese, ice cream, and yogurt, for a total of over $700 million in
sales.
The decline in dairy consumption is great news
for cows, who are treated as mere milk-producing machines, forcibly
impregnated, and kept in terrible conditions. Shortly after calves are
born, they are torn away from their mothers. Male calves are killed for veal.
Females are forced into the dairy herd, trapped in a cycle of abuse for years
until they are considered “spent and sent to slaughter.
Heartbreaking, right? Just watch this
undercover video from a Mercy For Animals investigation.
Fortunately, you can avoid consuming pus and contributing to this cruel
industry by adopting a healthy and compassionate vegan diet. Order
your FREE Vegetarian Starter Guide today. And check
out our Pinterest page for thousands of recipe ideas.
For a list of dairy alternatives, click here.