Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in

Laval, Mayenne Laval () is a town in western France, about west-southwest of Paris, and the capital of the Mayenne department. Its inhabitants are called ''Lavallois''. The commune of Laval proper, without the metropolitan area, is the 7th most populous in ...

, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the second largest food products group in France, behind

Danone Danone S.A. () is a French multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock market index. Some of the company's products are ...

. It owns brands such as Parmalat, Président,

Siggi's Dairy Siggi's Dairy (stylized as siggi's dairy) is an American brand of skyr – an Icelandic version of yogurt – that is owned by Icelandic Milk & Skyr Corporation. The company was founded in 2006 by Icelander Siggi Hilmarsson, who sold his yogurt lo ...

Skånemejerier Skånemejerier, based in Skåne County, is a Swedish cooperative and Sweden's largest producers of dairy products after Arla Foods and Milko (Swedish cooperative), Milko. Founded in 1964, the company's products include milk, cream, yoghurt, soured ...

Rachel's Organic Rachel's is an organic dairy products company based in Aberystwyth, Wales. Founded by local farmers but now a subsidiary of French company Lactalis, it was the United Kingdom's first certified organic dairy. Background The Williams family took o ...

, and

Stonyfield Farm Stonyfield Farm, also simply called Stonyfield, is an organic yogurt maker and dairy company located in Londonderry, New Hampshire, United States. Stonyfield Farm was founded by Samuel Kaymen in 1983, on a 19th-century farmstead in Wilton, New H ...

History

Galbani mozzarella with cherry tomatoes - Stierch

André Besnier started a small

cheesemaking Cheesemaking (or caseiculture) is the craft of making cheese. The production of cheese, like many other food preservation processes, allows the nutritional and economic value of a food material, in this case milk, to be preserved in concentr ...

company in 1933 and launched its ''Président'' brand of

Camembert Camembert (, also , ) is a moist, soft, creamy, surface-ripened cow's milk cheese. It was first made in the late 18th century in Camembert, Normandy, in northwest France. It is sometimes compared in look and taste to brie cheese, albeit wi ...

in 1968. In 1990, it acquired Group Bridel (2,300 employees, 10 factories, fourth-largest French dairy group) with a presence in 60 countries. In 1992, it acquired United States cheese company Sorrento. In 1999, ''la société Besnier'' became ''le groupe Lactalis'' owned by Belgian holding company BSA International SA. In 2006, they bought Italian group Galbani, and in 2008, bought Swiss cheesemaker Baer. They bought Italian group Parmalat in a 2011 2.5 G€ takeover after its bankruptcy and have since sought to delist it. In 2013, the Sorrento and Precious brands in the US were renamed Galbani, and the Sorrento Lactalis division was renamed Lactalis American Group. In 2007, the French

Institut National des Appellations d'Origine An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations ( research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

, which administers

AOC Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (; ; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of ...

(''L'appellation d'origine contrôlée'') designations for French food products, refused to permit Lactalis and the dairy cooperative, Isigny-Sainte-Mère, to sell pasteurized Camembert as "true Camembert". As of 2007, these two companies represented between 80 and 90% of

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

Camembert sales. In 2018, the INAO announced it would relax restrictions and create a new designation to include pasteurized Camembert in 2021. Lactilis acquired the southern Swedish dairy company,

, in February 2012. In May 2015, Lactalis acquired an 80% stake in Turkish dairy Ak Gida, a subsidiary of Yildiz Holding. In July 2017 it was announced that

Groupe Danone A group is a military unit or a military formation that is most often associated with military aviation. Air and aviation groups The terms group and wing differ significantly from one country to another, as well as between different branches o ...

had agreed to sell its

subsidiary to Lactalis for $875 Million to avoid anti-trust claims and to clear the way for Danone's acquisition of U.S. organic food producer

WhiteWave Foods Danone North America is a consumer packaged food and beverage company based in White Plains, New York, U.S., that manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells branded premium dairy products (including yogurt), plant-based foods and beverages, cof ...

. In December 2017, Lactalis announced the acquisition of dairy company Itambé. In January 2018, Lactalis announced it had agreed to purchase the

skyr Skyr ( ; ) is an Icelandic cultured dairy product originating in Norway. It has the consistency of strained yogurt, but a milder flavor. Skyr can be classified as a fresh sour milk cheese, similar to curd cheese consumed like a yogurt in the B ...

producer

, which will continue to be run independently. In October 2018, Lactalis announced the acquisition of

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since ...

Malaysia's chilled dairy business unit for approximately $40 million. Lactalis's Indian subsidiary Tirumala Milk Products said that it would acquire Prabhat's dairy business for ₹17 Billion. This will be Lactalis's third acquisition in India. On 15 September 2020, Groupe Lactalis announced an agreement to acquire

Kraft Heinz The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC), commonly known as Kraft Heinz, is an American multinational food company formed by the merger of Kraft Foods and Heinz co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh. Kraft Heinz is the third-largest food and beverage ...

's natural cheese operations in North America and internationally for $3.2 billion. The Department of Justice ruled that Lactalis must divest the Athenos and

Polly-O Polly-O is an American brand of cheese products, currently owned by BelGioioso Cheese Inc. The original Polly-O manufacturing company had been established in 1899, operating independently until it was acquired by Kraft Foods Inc. in 1986. Kraft o ...

cheese brands.

Operations

Owned by the Belgian holding company BSA International SA, which is controlled by the Besnier family that founded Lactalis, Lactalis in 2015 had global revenues of 16.5 billion euros. Lactalis employs 75,000 people worldwide, at 237 production sites in 43 countries. The headquarters for Lactalis American Group, Inc. is located in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

Controversies

In August 2016, farmers blockaded the company HQ in the French city of Laval, protesting what they saw as price fixing. In January 2018, the company had to withdraw 12 million boxes of baby formula due to a salmonella contamination. They were accused of trying to hide the initial discovery of contamination, which led to the crisis. In 2020 allegations were made that 38 of Lactalis's production plants in France had breached environmental regulations, and had been doing so for a number of years. Lactalis stated it had invested €60 million in improving wastewater treatment plants.

Brands

The group operates in eight divisions: *Lactalis cheeses with President – Rouy Lepetit Bridélight Galbani Rondelé Munster's Little Friends *Lactalis Butter & Creams with President – Bridélice Bridélight Primrose *Lactel with Awakening – Day after day Morning Light *Lactalis AOC with Pochat – Istara Beulet Salakis Lanquetot Roquefort Société Golden Ball Lou Pérac The Ruby Raguin The Stone Bridge *Lactalis consumption AFH with President – Society Bridel Locatelli *Lactalis industry with BBA – Calciane Prolacta *Tendriade Veal with Tendriade – Eurovo Voréal *Lactalis International with President – Sorrento Valbreso Galbani Sorrento Locatelli Invernizzi *LNUF with The Milkmaid – Yoco Flanby Sveltesse Vienna Greek Yogurt Kremly BA Fold Lactalis owns 198 industrial sites in 55 countries including the US, Romania, Poland, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia (" სანტე" brand), United Kingdom, Australia and as of 2011, Canada and South Africa. Lactalis mostly produces yogurt, butter, cheese, powdered milk, baby formula and milk drinks.

References

External links