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 product Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food items i ...

s 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 Parmalat S.p.A. is a dairy and food corporation which is a subsidiary of French multinational company Lactalis. It was founded by Calisto Tanzi in 1961. Having become the leading global company in the production of long-life milk using ultra- ...

, Président, Siggi's Dairy,

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

, Rachel's Organic, and Stonyfield Farm.

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 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

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, which administers AOC (''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 had agreed to sell its Stonyfield Farm 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. In December 2017, Lactalis announced the acquisition of dairy company Itambé. In January 2018, Lactalis announced it had agreed to purchase the skyr producer Siggi's Dairy, which will continue to be run independently. In October 2018, Lactalis announced the acquisition of

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, 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 me ...

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 bevera ...

'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 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 Sou ...

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