Dannon Forms Probiotic Agreement with Valio

23/01/07 Valio Ltd and Dannon Inc. have forged an agreement on the use of Valio’s Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG probiotic in Dannon’s Danimals children’s yoghurts and drinkable yoghurts in the US as of the beginning of 2007. Valio is entering a new area of the US market in selling an LGG license to Dannon, the US subsidiary of French company Groupe Danone, one of the world’s largest dairy companies. LGG products are currently sold in 45 countries. In the United States, LGG has until now only been available in capsule form. In Finland, Sweden, the Baltics and Russia, LGG products are sold under the Gefilus brand.

Dannon said that following the resounding success of the launch of Activia in the USA in 2006, The Dannon Company will also be expanding its portfolio of probiotic fresh dairy foods with functional benefits in addition to great taste and basic nutrition. The three products to be introduced during 2007 - DanActive dairy drink, Activia Light nonfat yogurt and Danimals with LGG drinks and lowfat yogurt - are part of Dannon’s growing portfolio of high health brands that deliver added probiotic benefits to consumers who enjoy them.

Dannon points out that they chose Valio’s functional Lactobacillus GG probiotic for their products because LGG™ is the most researched functional lactic acid bacterium in the world. Dannon considers Valio the world’s most innovative dairy company and a manufacturer of reliable high quality products.

“The effects of Lactobacillus GG in enhancing the immune system and reducing, for example, the occurrence of atopic symptoms in infants have been recorded among more than 320 scientific publications written about the bacterium. Gefilus items are available in almost all Valio product groups in Finland, from milks to juices and daily dose drinks,” says Tiina Mattila-Sandholm, Senior Vice President, Research & Development at Valio.

Dr Mattila-Sandholm stresses that extensive research on functional lactic acid bacteria continues at Valio. “We have developed a combination of four probiotics, one component of which is LGG. Research has shown that the combination, LGGPlus, markedly alleviated the symptoms of test subjects suffering from irritable bowel syndrome. In fact, 75% of those who received LGGPlus felt that their stomach symptoms were alleviated.”

“In 2006, Valio has also invested in decoding the sequence of Lactobacillus GG, working together with the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Helsinki, and information about the genotype will lend a whole new dimension to further research,” adds Dr Mattila-Sandholm.

Esa Laurinsilta, Vice President, Valio Technology Commercialisation, considers the US license an important step. Unlike in Europe, the yoghurt market in the United States is currently showing very rapid growth. Consumers have become more knowledgeable about probiotics in recent years. While LGG has been available in yoghurts and yoghurt drinks since the mid-1990s in Europe, Valio had not until now succeeded in bringing LGG to the US dairy market.