WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — True to their commitment to bring health through food to as many people as possible, The Dannon Company has improved the nutrition profile of its bestselling children’s product, Danimals® Smoothies. Using an innovative process, Dannon reformulated Danimals Smoothies to reduce the sugar content by 25 percent without sacrificing nutrients, taste, texture or convenience.
Over a period of two years, the research and development team at Dannon deconstructed then reconstructed its Danimals Smoothies to make it easier for parents to provide their children with the nutritional benefits of lowfat dairy. The people at Dannon believe eating yogurt every day is an important first step toward creating a more balanced diet, a healthier lifestyle and improving public health.
“As America’s largest maker of yogurt, we are committed to bring health through food to as many people as possible, and to encourage Americans to eat yogurt every day,” said Sergio Fuster, Senior Vice President of Marketing at The Dannon Company. “We make snack options that kids want to eat and that parents feel good about when feeding their children. We hear concerns from parents about the amount of sugar in their kids’ diets, and we worked for a long time to find a way to improve the total nutritional value of Danimals Smoothies while still making them taste great, which is what made them our bestselling kids’ product in the first place. We didn’t reveal this change until the new Danimals Smoothies had already replaced the previous version in stores because we wanted to make sure kids still love it, which they do.”
The path to the reformulated product required a multiyear, innovative process that involved reimagining the way Dannon makes Danimals Smoothies, without changing the great taste that kids love.
“Just like in cooking, every time you change an ingredient, you need to add something else to balance out the flavor,” said Thierry Saint-Denis, Director of Research and Development at The Dannon Company. “In our case, we had to balance the natural acidity with sugar. The more acidic a yogurt or smoothie is, the more sugar you need to add in order to make it taste better. Through experimenting with different yogurt cultures, we were able to reduce the acidity and, in turn, reduce the need for sugar to mask the tartness.”
Beginning in 2010, researchers at Dannon began experimenting with different yogurt cultures to reduce the acidity and therefore reduce the need for sugar to improve taste. After many trials and tasting sessions, the research and development team found the right combination of cultures.
From there, the team changed the recipe of natural flavors, leading to an opportunity to further reduce sugar. Other characteristics of the smoothies like texture and the specific flavor profiles for each smoothie flavor were then carefully refined to ensure that the new reduced-sugar smoothies didn’t taste different. After months of refinement, the new smoothies were ready for the most discerning customers—kids. And based on Dannon’s taste tests, kids haven’t noticed the change and still love Danimals Smoothies.
As part of Dannon’s mission to provide healthy and great-tasting food choices, the new Danimals Smoothies gives parents an easy and fun choice to offer their kids as part of a balanced diet.
For more information about the innovative process of reducing the sugar in Danimals Smoothies, check out the infographic, The Road to Less Sugar. For complete product information about Danimals Smoothies, visit the Danimals Facebook Page or Danimals.com.
About Danimals Smoothies
Danimals Smoothies provide parents with easy, fun and nutritious choices that kids like. They are a good source of Calcium and Vitamin D to help build strong bones and regulate muscle function. Danimals Smoothies contain no artificial colors or flavors and no high fructose corn syrup, and they are great tasting snacks for kids. Danimals Smoothies can be found in the dairy aisle of food stores nationwide.
About The Dannon Company, Inc.
Headquartered in White Plains, New York, The Dannon Company, Inc. has plants in Minster, OH, Fort Worth, TX, West Jordan, UT, and Portland, OR, which make more than 200 different flavors, styles and sizes of cultured refrigerated and frozen dairy products to serve its retail and foodservice customers. Dannon brings health through food to as many people as possible via its diverse offering of delicious and wholesome fresh and frozen yogurts.
Dannon is a subsidiary of Danone, and Dannon is the top-selling brand of yogurt worldwide, sold under the names Dannon and Danone. Dannon’s commitment to health is also illustrated through the support of the Dannon Institute, a non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting research, education and communication about the links between nutrition, diet and health.
Danone is one of the fastest-growing food companies in the world. Its mission is to bring health through food to as many people as possible. The company, whose products are sold on five continents, has more than 180 production plants and around 100,000 employees. In 2011, Danone generated sales of €19 billion, of which more than half were in emerging markets. The company holds top positions in healthy food through four businesses: Fresh Dairy Products, Baby Nutrition, Bottled Water and Medical Nutrition. Listed on Euronext Paris, Danone is a component stock of leading social responsibility indexes including the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, ASPI Eurozone and the Ethibel Sustainability Index.
Source: The Dannon Company
