"dannon" news and stories

Corn and tomato salsas. Photo: sporkist, Flickr.

• With just-picked farmers' market ingredients, the Salsa Lady makes sinfully spicy salsas.
• After a class-action lawsuit was filed against Dannon for overstating Activia and DanActive health benefits, the company reached a settlement.
• The Star Tribune thinks a warm September is perfect pinot grigio weather, and suggests Scaranto Delle Venezie Pinot Grigio 2007.
• Warming up the cool fall kitchen with fresh corn fritters.
• Is there such a thing as wine that works for everyone?
• Minneapolis has the largest group of Hmong people in the U.S., but their ethnic food is still underground.
• In metro dining news, Chambers gets a new look and tasty new menu, Loring Kitchen & Bar gives great views of Loring Park, and OM Restaurant dishes up fresh and complex Indian food.
• Weekly restaurant pick: Lyndale Ave's Prima.

We reported a few weeks back about how Yoplait was going growth-hormone free. Well now Dannon's following suit, reports Civil Eats. Dannon, which controls around one third of the country's dairy market, cites consumer demand as the reason behind the change. The company says it will go rbGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone)-free by the end of the year.

There are various health and animal rights issues surrounding the use of rbGH on dairy cows. The hormones have been linked to increased rates of infections in cattle, necessitating greater antibiotic use. And some studies have shown that rbGH raises levels of a hormone in cow's milk; higher than normal levels of IGF-1 in humans may raise the risk of breast cancer. Others say no significant difference has been shown between milk from rBST-treated and milk from non-rBST-treated cows.

Source

I'm sure you've seen those commercials for Dannon's Activia yogurt, the ones that say that the yogurt contains special ingredients that help with digestion and the immune system. Now those claims are being challenged by a lawsuit.

The lawsuit says that the ad lie and that Dannon's own research doesn't even back up the medical claims. The yogurt costs 30% more than regular yogurts and the lawsuit says that this is unwarranted because the advertising is deceptive. The suit is looking for damages for anyone who bought any of the Activia brands, and they also want Dannon to stop the ads and run a new "corrective ad campaign."

Other brands aren't mentioned in the lawsuit because they don't make the same claims.

We already know that probiotics are one of the hottest health buzzwords of the year, so it's no surprise to hear that Dannon, which was one of the first companies to actively promote probiotics in their products in the US with the launch of Activia, has some new products to add to their line. First up is Activia Light, a fat free version of the original yogurt. It has less sugar than the original and about 30% fewer calories per serving, but still comes in four fruity flavors: strawberry, raspberry, peach and vanilla.

There are also two other new items in Dannon's lineup. DanActive, a "probiotic dairy drink" which was released nationwide this month that is supposed to help strengthen the body's immune system. Danimals, a kids yogurt drink, is also being re-released with a new formulation that includes "he world's most researched probiotic culture for children, Lactobacillus GG (LGG)," which has been clinically shown to improve gastrointestinal and immune functions and contribute to good oral health.

Food manufacturers love bacteria, especially probiotic bacteria. The market for products that contain probiotics has really taken off in the past year in the US, after Dannon launched a line of yogurt, Activa, that included them as an aid to digestive regularity. The company's sales soared to over $100 million dollars and other producers quickly scrambled to work probiotics into their own lines, appealing to health-conscious consumers who are interested in improving their diets and lifestyle with food that is good for them, rather than by taking pills as supplements. In other words, probiotics appeal to the American consumer's growing interest in functional foods.

Probiotics are being called "this decade's oat bran," by trendspotters, who are referring to the fact that that grain rose quickly to popularity in the 1980s - and stayed there - when "it was shown to lower cholesterol levels." Oat bran ended up in everything for a very long period and it seems likely that probiotics will, too, provided that the companies that use them can get the same results from the live cultures than Dannon has. Known benefits include relief from irritable bowel syndrome, yeast infections, and diarrhea, but more claims are being made every day, suggesting "probiotics may help ward off everything from allergies to colon cancer."

For now, most probiotic products are dairy-based, including a TCBY frozen yogurt, StonyField Farm's upcoming dairy-based energy drink and Dannon's Activa and DanActive. There are soy milk products that contain probiotics and Kashi has put it into cereal.

Source