Dannon adds new vegan yogurt line to its light & fit brand

[Lou]

"The almond milk-based Good Plants line—sold under its biggest yogurt brand in the US—features Lemon Meringue, Chocolate Coconut, Strawberry, and Vanilla, with more in the works. "

I have been cutting back on my re-posting of news here. Not because there is less news but because every day there are at least 2 or 3 articles that catch my eye.

It seems like a day doesn't go by without some company rolling out some new vegan products. Or a new discovery, scientific breakthrough, or medical study on plant-based foods making it into Main Stream News.

So I have been sort of reining myself in. But I still find some stuff just too useful or exciting and then I just have to re-post.

Before I was vegan I used to eat yoghurt a few times a week. I do sometimes buy one of the plant-based brands. but at TJ's they have dropped vegan yoghurt. And the other store I go to only has two flavours of Silk. and neither of them are particularly healthy.

So when I saw this article I got excited. Besides the personal pleasure, the fact that another big dairy company is entering the plant-based marketplace is good news on the ..... "world stage of veganism". ( I just made that term up).

I'll include the link to the article at the bottom but here is some more of the article that I found interesting.

“We know that many consumers, especially people who are focused on health and wellness, are increasingly looking for plant-based, non-dairy options to integrate into their routines. But there aren’t a lot of yogurt alternatives out there offering fewer calories and less sugar,” Prabha Cheemalapati, Danone Vice President of Yogurt Marketing, told VegNews. “We launched Good Plants under Light & Fit, our largest dairy brand in the US, to answer this need.” The line is currently available at select retailers in Texas and the Northeast, with plans to expand distribution nationwide. In 2016, Danone closed a $12.5 billion acquisition of WhiteWave Foods—parent company of vegan brands Silk, So Delicious, Vega, and Alpro. "

https://vegnews.com/2018/12/dannon-adds-new-vegan-yogurt-line-to-its-light-and-fit-brand

 

[mavrick45]

even if it's only for profit reasons, I'm glad more companies are offering vegan options

 

[Lou]

even if it's only for profit reasons, I'm glad more companies are offering vegan options

I think for a long time companies did not market to vegans because vegans tended to make their own stuff and also they tended to buy locally,

With the increase of popularity of WFPB, the companies have found something new to exploit. I think any growth of the vegan market has got to be good news for animals. But it might not always be good news for vegans.

One concern that I have is suggested in the last line I quoted, " In 2016, Danone closed a $12.5 billion acquisition of WhiteWave Foods—parent company of vegan brands Silk, So Delicious, Vega, and Alpro. "

As mega food companies with large interests in Dairy take over non-dairy businesses, will the company promote non-dairy products, as well as they would if they had no interest in dairy? What about lobbying, research, and pricing?

Another concern is that 90% of our food comes to us from 10 companies. That's a lot of concentrated power.

There is also an issue of what big companies can and will do to increase profits. For instance, after Dean Foods purchased Silk, Silk stopped using certified organic soybeans.

 

[Forest Nymph]

While I'm very left and idealize the Chomsky scenario of intelligent peaceful leftist anarchy, I accept under the Trump presidency that some of my best friends will be hideous corporations which sell plant based products and billionaires who invest in veganism or the environment because that's just the game board we are on at the moment. So I ultimately celebrate with my long term ...plans.