Danone North America Improves B Corp Certification Score and Advocates for Other Businesses to Join the Movement

BROOMFIELD, Colo. and WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., April 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Three years after becoming a Certified B Corporation®, Danone North America today announced its recertification with even higher scores, in tandem with Nutricia North America, a part of the Danone North America family, achieving B Corp^TM certification. Awarded to companies that meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance, this certification is another key step in Danone's ambition to achieve certification across the company globally by 2025 and mission to bring health through food to as many people as possible.

As one of the world's largest B Corps, Danone North America believes it is the company's responsibility to balance purpose and performance to drive real, systemic change with its size and reach. In the last three years alone, the company has enacted programs to combat the threat of climate change, enhance biodiversity, reduce waste, provide for the food insecure and promote a more equitable society. Danone North America has long been committed to using business as a force for good, and believes that now more than ever, other large multinational organizations should invest in their social and environmental commitments and join the B Corp community.

"Three years ago, Danone North America embarked on the B Corp journey with the goal of joining a movement of likeminded organizations committed to using business as a force for good," said Deanna Bratter, Head of Sustainable Development for Danone North America. "There's a seismic shift underway from consumers, employees and other stakeholders, who desire businesses do more than solely provide a service or product. What B Corp certification provides is a framework for businesses to operate and meet today's needs and build toward a more sustainable and inclusive future. It's our hope that other organizations join us in advancing the collective progress the movement sets out to achieve." 

Nutricia North America, which offers specialized nutrition products, is another Danone entity to receive B Corp certification in North America. With brands like Neocate^®, PhenylAde^®, Pro-Stat^®, Real Food Blends^® and KetoCal^®, Nutricia positively impacts the health and lives of thousands of infants, children, and adults as well as their families in the U.S. and Canada every year as they face food allergy issues, rare metabolic diseases, tube-feeding needs and epilepsy, as well as age-related challenges such as pressure wounds.   

"At Nutricia, we have been committed to transforming lives through the power of nutrition for more than 120 years," said Robert Schnurr, General Manager at Nutricia North America. "We are proud to lead the introduction of B Corp values to medical foods in North America as we continue to pioneer nutritional solutions to help people live longer, more joyful and healthier lives."

To achieve B Corp certification, companies must meet credible, comprehensive, transparent and independent standards and earn a minimum audit score of 80 out of 200 possible points – recertifying every three years to ensure continued commitment. Nutricia North America achieved a B Impact Assessment score of 85.6. Danone North America recertified with a score of 96 – an improvement from its score of 85 when it was first certified in April 2018.

Since 2015, Danone has partnered with B Lab – a global nonprofit that creates standards and certifies B Corp companies – to help define a meaningful and manageable path to certification for multinationals and publicly traded companies, as well as accelerate growth of the B Corp movement into the mainstream. Danone hopes to achieve global certification across the company by 2025.

For more information about Danone, please visit www.danone.com. For more information about B Corp, please visit www.bcorporation.net. 

About Danone North America
Danone North America is a purpose-driven company and an industry leader in the food and beverage category. As a Certified B Corporation®, Danone North America is committed to the creation of both economic and social value, while nurturing natural ecosystems through sustainable agriculture. Our strong portfolio of brands includes: Activia®, DanActive®, Danimals®, Dannon®, evian®, Happy Family® Organics, Honest to Goodness™, Horizon® Organic, International Delight®, Light + Fit®, Oikos®, Silk®, So Delicious® Dairy Free, STōK™, Two Good®, Vega®, Wallaby® Organic and YoCrunch®. With more than 6,000 employees and 14 production locations across the U.S. and Canada, Danone North America's mission is to bring health through food to as many people as possible. For more information, visit www.danonenorthamerica.com. For more information on Danone North America's B Corp™ status, visit: https://bcorporation.net/directory/danone-north-america.

About Nutricia
Since 1896, Nutricia has pioneered nutritional solutions that help people live longer, more joyful and healthier lives. Building on more than a century of research and innovation, Nutricia has harnessed the power of life-changing nutrition to create a leading specialized nutrition portfolio that can change a health trajectory for life.

With its nutritional solutions, Nutricia supports healthy growth and development during the first 1000 days and helps to address some of the world's biggest health challenges, including in North America: faltering growth, food allergy, rare metabolic diseases, epilepsy and wound healing.

As part of Danone, Nutricia embraces the company's "One Planet. One Health" vision reflecting that the health of people and the health of the planet are interconnected and therefore seeks to protect and nourish both. 

For more information visit www.nutricia.com

SOURCE Danone North America