Responsibility &
Sustainability

“Thinking and acting for sustainability is a strategic imperative for our business and part of our culture.”

– Jean-Luc Bruandet

President & Chief Executive Officer

A message from President & Chief Executive Officer, Jean-Luc Bruandet

Accelerate the Change, Embrace the Future

Sustainability is the critical challenge of our time. Events in the last year underscore its importance.

Last year we navigated feeding people amidst an unprecedented, global pandemic, world conflict, economic uncertainty, disruptions and historic inflation. We all know that we have finite planetary resources with an increasing number of inhabitants; we must continue to do our part by manufacturing healthy products that deliver great taste and nutritional value while minimizing their environmental impact. Now more than ever, Lactalis American Group is called to embrace the challenge of corporate social responsibility. This report details our progress through 2021 and our sustainability plan for the next decade.

Thinking and acting for sustainability is a strategic imperative for our business and part of our culture. We bring that orientation to our efforts to sustain our company, environment and communities. We continue to do our part by manufacturing healthy products that deliver great taste and nutritional value while minimizing their impact on the environment.

Our sustainability program supports the Lactalis Group’s global corporate social responsibility focus on People & Community, Authentic Products & Heritage, and Land & Resources. These areas of focus are further championed by three key priorities of climate, animal welfare and packaging. These areas of focus and prioritization reflect the recognition that our company — and our industry — must positively contribute to a stable environment so we may continue making our products, driving for successful growth.

Lactalis American Group firmly believes that we should take climate risk seriously and adopt a long-term perspective that incorporates responsible sustainability into our core business reporting. As a dairy company, commodity pricing underpins our business; it is therefore in our best interest to pay attention when climate change simultaneously destabilizes markets.

Also, companies like ours that track sustainability indicators are better prepared to transition to a future that includes a low-carbon economy.

As supporters of the U.N. Global Compact, Lactalis American Group is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nations. As partners with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, we endorse their mission of being “dedicated to addressing climate change and water quality while providing nutritious and affordable foods that promote public wellness.” As a result, this call to action has required a methodical review of our value chain at every stage.

As this report demonstrates, Lactalis American Group remains a conscientious and effective contributor towards our plans for sustainability. As a leader in dairy, we acknowledge the impact our business decisions make on people and communities. We will continue to use our expertise in dairy to help contribute to the long-term sustainability of our society and our planet.

Sincerely,

Jean Luc Bruandet

President & Chief Executive Officer
Lactalis American Group

Director Message

A global approach adapted to local realities:
Q&A with Axel Bigot, Group Director for Sustainability at Lactalis Group

Q. HAVING ALREADY BEEN INVOLVED IN A NUMBER OF INITIATIVES FOR SEVERAL YEARS, WHY DID LACTALIS GROUP DECIDE TO FORMALIZE A CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY APPROACH NOW?

This was an important decision based on several factors. First, it is becoming increasingly important in the agri-food sector, for the entire value chain – from the producer to the consumer – to consider their responsibility on a wider scale rather than their immediate perimeter. We therefore wanted to put in place a structure to be able to respond to the needs of all these players. Second, with the many corporate responsibility initiatives already in place at all levels across the organization, it is important that we have a Group Corporate Responsibility Framework to highlight them. Lastly, we must also respond to societal changes and expectations – including those of our own employees – and the growing importance of social and environmental responsibility. We want to increase dialogue with our stakeholders and engage in innovative partnerships on a larger scale.

Q. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE KEY CONSIDERATIONS THAT NEED TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT WHEN SETTING UP LACTALIS GROUP’S CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY APPROACH?

Lactalis Group was built around an industrial culture. Taking care of raw materials, saving resources, and being uncompromising about the quality of our products is part of our DNA. However, we are not a uniform and homogeneous group and Lactalis Group is a network of individual dairy entities which respect local diversity, regions, cultures, traditions and expertise. We have very different levels of maturity on corporate responsibility issues depending on the countries in which we operate. Additionally, we operate in countries with very different regulatory requirements and sometimes multiple variations in the regulatory framework within a single country, for example, Canada. We knew that a “one size fits all” strategy would not be the right approach for us. We therefore wanted to initiate a collective approach with the aim of defining a common baseline and establishing benchmarks and reporting methods that can bring some uniformity to our approach and allow us to track progress in a large, complex organisation against recognised standards.

Q. WHAT STRENGTHS CAN LACTALIS GROUP DRAW ON TO ENSURE SUCCESS?

Given the realities of our business and the expectations of society, this is essential if our approach is to not only be credible, but above all, operationally achievable. Additionally, because of the Group’s expertise and heritage, there is a natural trust in the decisions taken at corporate level. Finally, adaptability to the local context is perhaps the most important guarantee of our success. A uniform top-down strategy would be contrary to our way of doing things. We provide the impetus and a common language, but it is our subsidiaries that have the local knowledge required to facilitate implementation. Lactalis leadership is about local responses within a global framework. The same applies to corporate responsibility.

SDG Alignment

About Us

Lactalis American Group is a subsidiary of Lactalis Group, the world’s leading dairy group and a French-family business founded in 1933 in Laval, France. Lactalis is a leading producer of dairy products including cheese, milk, yogurts, butters and creams, dairy ingredients and nutrition.

Our Story

Begins in France in 1933 when our founder, André Besnier, produced his first 17 camemberts using 35 liters of milk collected from the surrounding area. This tradition of dairy production inspired by simple, high quality ingredients continues today. For nearly 40 years, Lactalis American Group has committed to sourcing our milk from local farms which ensures all of our dairy products are fresh and delicious when you buy them.

Our Corporate Values

Lacatalis American Group employees are driven by 3 Core Values:

Ambition

Performance
Continuous Improvement
People Development

Engagement

Entrepreneurship
Tenacity
Loyalty

with Simplicity

Accessibility, Modesty
Transparency
Pragmatism

Our Brands

A taste for bringing people together with the best dairy has to offer…

At Lactalis American Group, our iconic and beloved dairy products inspire and delight our many customers and consumers. We source farm fresh milk at each of our production facilities to make the products you know and love. From our award-winning cheeses, butters,milk and powders to the wide range of product offerings our other companies provide. We take pride in being dairy experts and making nutritious, healthy, and tasty products this is at the heart of what we do.

Our products include: Président® brand specialty cheeses and gourmet butters, Galbani® brand cheeses, Parmalat® brand UHT milk, Stonyfield Organic®, and Black Diamond.

Governance & Approach

Our Governance

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability has become a core function within Lactalis American Group. Lactalis American Group is a subsidiary of Lactalis Group which has recently established a global Corporate Responsibility Framework with defined pillars and working groups. Lactalis American Group is represented and actively participates in these global working groups.

We have developed individual, divisional, and department strategies, for a consistent approach which will engage our employees, consumers, and customers, and enable us to report on performance at Group level.

The CEO has ultimate accountability for sustainability and the Executives of the business are responsible for setting performance metrics that drive change in support of our sustainability goals. The Executive Committee, as Lactalis American Group’s senior leadership team, with responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the business, is accountable for CSR and sustainability in addition to compliance with policies and regulations.

Alongside the Executive Committee, the Core Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Committee defines, tracks, and ensures execution of the sustainability roadmap in conjunction with the vision, methodology, and structure.

The Core Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Committee under the leadership of executive sponsors have oversight of their respective areas, participate in the global working groups, and are each responsible for building and defining their respective roadmaps, executing projects and initiatives, and tracking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as part of our reporting and governance process.

Our Governance and Reporting Structure

Lactalis Group

Lactalis American Group

Executive
Committee

Core CSR and Sustainability committee

Extended CSR Team

Our Approach

A focus on shared values guides our approach to CSR at Lactalis American Group. We intend to play an active role in the decarbonization of our industry while upholding the value of dairy. It is our resolve to partner with competitors, scholars, policy-makers, and farmers alike to chart a path forward.

This call to action has required a methodical review of our value chain at every stage. We are a company steeped in a long tradition of dairy, food science, and production. Today, we acknowledge that our business decisions account for impacts that extend to all stakeholders.

To inform our strategy, we conducted a materiality assessment across 175 external and internal stakeholders on 33 topics.

Based on this feedback, we developed 3 Pillars which serve as the framework for the teams and resources that support our mission. As our business and the dynamic topic of corporate responsibility evolves, we will continually update and improve this framework. Today we are positioning ourselves to set ambitious targets by the end of 2022 for each considered category.

People & Communities

Contribute to the economic and social wellbeing of our people and communities.

Human Resources
Wellness
Health and Safety
Corporate giving
Community Relations and Engagement

Authentic Products & Heritage

Take pride in our local craftsmanship and global know-how to offer wholesome and nutritious products.

Nutrition
Food Safety and Quality
Responsible Sourcing
Animal Health and Welfare

Land & Resources

Act Responsibly and sustainably to foster a thriving planet for the future.

Energy and Environment
Transport and Logistics
Carbon Footprint
Circular Economy and Packaging
Food Waste

Part of the Solution

UN Global Compact

Our business is part of an ecosystem of activities and we believe that external collaboration is key to innovating towards our targets. We also understand the value of a global perspective in dealing with global challenges, which is why we have used the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN) Global Compact to inform our Corporate Responsibility Framework and priorities. While we are directly engaging in activities that support 15 of the 17 SDGs, these goals were originally developed as guidance for countries, not companies. We are proud to announce Lactalis Group’s recent participation in the UN Global Compact which will now link the SDG framework to our activities more directly.

Center for Dairy Innovation

In addition, we are a member of innovation center for US dairy as a channel for collaboration and the development of our knowledge base with our farm partners.

People & Community

Contribute to the economic and social wellbeing of our people and communities.

At the heart of our company, are our people and our communities. With four operating sites located across the country in the states of Idaho, Wisconsin, and NY, employees play a vital role in supporting the communities in which we live and operate. Both by providing nutritious, high quality dairy products and through our active community involvement, we proudly deliver on our core purpose.

HR is dedicated to providing programs, policies and initiatives which support our employee’s overall wellbeing. We strive to create a culture of respect, diversity, inclusion, and fairness to support and nurture our employees to enable them to bring their best selves to work and to their communities in which they live. As our people continue to feed the nation with healthy and nutritious products, we continue to fuel our people through our competitive training, development, recognition, benefits, pension and compensation programs and policies.

We are ambitious in our goals and foster continuous insights through ongoing key performance indicators in community volunteer programs; diversity, equity, and inclusion; labor relations; talent attraction, growth and retention; and women / youth.

Our Policies

At Lactalis American Group we are proud of our ambition to be an employer of choice. During our journey over the past 18 months, we have made some big changes to our policies, programs and systems. To guide our development, we have established 6 key performance indicators. They are:

Labor Relations

% of HR team trained in the Lactalis Labor and Employee Relations way

Talent Attraction

% of leadership position hired from the national Community

Talent Retention

Employee commitment rate from the engagement survey

Talent Growth

% Role vacancies in leadership positions filled internally

Talent Growth

Number of internal trainers

Women

% Women in leadership positions

Our Policies

Training & Development Platform

Lactalis American Group has made a significant investment to further support the training and development of our employees by partnering with Lactalis Group’s digital training platform for employees worldwide, with a primary focus on Lactalis’ core managerial values, best practices and industrial expertise as well as training programs in areas such as leadership and management, communication, language and IT training courses.

Talent Development & Career Growth

In 2021, Lactalis American Group established a robust management review process for leaders, that aims at better identifying key talent and building development and succession plans to prepare for the next steps in their career.

Lactalis American Group offers student positions every year in a variety of functions such as Quality, Customer Service, Sales, Supply Chain, Purchasing, and Finance. Throughout the year, we often partner with local University and College Co-op programs to hire students into these functions.

Educational Assistance Policy

Lactalis American Group provides an education reimbursement program for all employees, enabling our people to improve and develop themselves by continuing their education and pursuing continuous learning and professional development opportunities outside of working hours.

Guidance Resources

(Employee Assistance Program)

Installed in 2019, our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) with Guidance Resources supports employees with Confidential Emotional Support, Legal Guidance as well as Financial and Work-Life support. At the height of the pandemic, we regularly communicated on the resources available through the EAP to manage COVID-19 related issues such as: stress, anxiety and childcare.

Our Policies

Looking ahead to foster and bolster our community engagement, we will be implementing the “Make a Difference” (MAD) program. MAD is an opportunity for employees to have 4 hours of paid time to contribute their time and effort to local, national or global community service activities during their normally scheduled workweek. This commitment to the community includes encouraging employees to participate in a local or national giving campaigns, volunteer at a soup kitchen; local school, non-for-profit.

Engagement Survey for Employee Wellness

In the summer of 2021, we conducted our second company-wide employee engagement survey to better understand the needs and challenges of our people. We partnered with Korn Ferry’s Listening team to develop a platform collecting confidential and anonymous feedback to gauge the pulse of our organization. Now more than ever, we want to prioritize the wellbeing of our people as well as their professional and personal fulfillment at work.

This survey inquires about employee’s sentiments on the organization’s work structure and processes; leadership; development opportunities; values; resources; corporate social responsibility; compensation and several other topics. Thanks to the employees’ candid and honest response, we were able to identify employees’ unmet needs and understand the challenges they face at work. With this feedback we hope to continue leveraging our strengths all the while mobilizing the resources necessary to act on and ameliorate our areas of improvement.

Health & Safety

Health & Safety Policy

As an industrial player, the Group is developing a robust Health and Safety program for the workplace. Lactalis is determined to achieve the only acceptable goal: zero accidents in the workplace and zero work-related illness. Every plant has a site specific commitment structure that strives to meet this goal. Since 2012, Lactalis has implemented a global policy and set standards, which have been rolled out locally. Group Lactalis is developing risk management strategy focused on a healthy and safe culture.

We have more than 1,800 employees in the United States and aim to provide every employee with economic security through fair wages, health security through our comprehensive benefits plan, and career advancement opportunities.

Health & Safety Through COVID-19

A Message from Lactalis American Group President & CEO Jean-Luc Bruandet:

“Our top priorities as we navigate the ongoing COVID-19 crisis are ensuring the health and safety of our people and continuity of our business.”

As a food manufacturer, we play an essential role in our communities, and we must maintain our production for American consumers throughout this crisis. To do this without jeopardizing the health and welfare of our colleagues and business partners, we have adapted operating procedures at each of our facilities. We extend our gratitude to our customers and suppliers for their continued patience and flexibility in this difficult period.

Health & Safety

The health and safety of our team and workplaces has been our top priority during the global pandemic. Together, our Human Resources (HR), Health and Safety and Operations teams have put into place strict health and safety protocols that adhere to public health guidelines and have implemented additional proactive measures to protect our people and keep our work environments safe.

Plant Health & Safety Protocol Q&A
Allowing Contractors and Essential persons only on site
Entrance screening upon arrival
Motion Sensors to faucets in washrooms / lunchrooms
Contactless pay statements for hourly employees
Bonus to our essential on-site workers
COVID-19 hygiene, sanitization and cleaning protocols and best practices

Distribution and supply of personal protective equipment for all employees
Installation of physical/plexiglass barriers
Staggered shift start-times and breaks to reduce traffic in common areas
Mandatory health and safety/food safety e-learning training for all employees
Enhanced COVID-19 communication and reporting

Addition of designated external washroom facilities for truck drivers
Risk assessment on travelers by zone
Remote working for all office employees and renovation of offices for an eventual safe return to work
Return to Work Survey for salaried employees
Regular communications from the CEO

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

At Lactalis American Group, we are committed to creating a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace that is positive and respectful.

Bring Your Uniqueness to Grow Our Culture

We believe each and every individual within the organization provides value. When we encourage and include the voices of all diverse backgrounds and perspectives, we open doors to growth and allow individuals to bring their full authentic selves to work. In order to celebrate the uniqueness of our people and the communities in which we operate, we are committed to cultivating a fair and inclusive workplace that fosters real belonging for all.

Our programs in this area will focus on how we challenge ourselves across the organization to remove systemic barriers and provide programs and practices in an equitable manner.

In 2021, some of our key initiatives and action plans included but were not limited to:

Executive Training: Conduct Awareness and Challenge Your Bias comprehensive training module.
Events & Awareness: Diversty, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) celebrations and awareness activities throughout the year: National Hispanic Heritage Month, National Disabilities Employment Awareness Month and Veteran’s Day.

Gender Diversity

Companies that demonstrate gender diversity across their organization outperform the competition. While we have opportunities to continue to strengthen our gender diversity, we are proud to continue our evolution of diversity and maintain a healthy balance of both female and male workers

Age Diversity

Lactalis American Group has strong age diversity, and it is important to our DNA. We celebrate the experience and knowledge a career in our industry provides while embracing the insights and ideas of the next generations.

Spotlight on National Hispanic Heritage Month

Earlier this year we celebrated National Hispanic Heritage Month (NHHM) with our employees across all US businesses. We’re pleased to have the opportunity to educate our employees on the history of NHHM, rally the information about volunteer and donation opportunities within Latinx-based community organizations and highlight Latinx-owned small businesses our employees could support in their respective locations.

NHHM enabled us to share valuable experiences with our people: both through tastings of our authentic Hispanic cheeses and by partnering with Migrant Kitchen in New York City.

To culminate our celebration of NHHM, we partnered with Migrant Kitchen, a Arab-Latin catering business that focuses on providing meaningful opportunities for immigrants to showcase their cuisines and cultures of their home countries while earning more than minimum wage.

Community

Lactalis American Group aims to contribute to the sustainable development of the areas in which we operate.

Hunger Relief and Donations

First, and foremost, we are a food company, with a fundamental goal to help fight hunger in the communities around us. Across all our Lactalis American Group locations, whether plants or offices, we maintain a close relationship with local Food Banks: encouraging our employees to participate in our annual food drive and donate their time throughout the calendar year.

Lactalis American Group donated over 225,000 lbs of nutritious dairy products throughout 2020 to over 32 organizations including food banks, frontline workers, local farmers during community events.

Over 500lbs of much needed items to Food Bank of New York City.

In Buffalo, a food drive and donation of 17 pallets that’s nearly 15,000 individual cartons) of our Parmalat UHT milk was given to Feed More in honor of Dr Martin Luther King Day.

During the month of October 2020, instead of offering a promotional price at retail on Istara cheese, we pledged to donate 1$/lbs sold to a local community garden in the Bronx.

In addition to our product donations to food banks, Lactalis engages with a network of community-based organizations and local non-profits across the United States. 3,660 blankets to 14 homeless shelters and non-profits within our network. Above are pictures of our employees distributing blankets to local organizations in Wisconsin.

Mayor Byron Brown congratulated our volunteers for their efforts!

World Cleanup Day

World Clean Up Day is an annual initiative raising awareness on the importance of sorting and recycling consumer goods that brings volunteers and partners together to rid our planet of trash.

Our employees joined two clean up events: In total, our volunteers gathered well over 585 gallons of debris!

To complement our efforts to limit plastics pollution, we have installed Bevi fountains within our plants and offices to encourage our employee population to refill and reuse their bottles and avoid single use plastics. Thanks to this initiative, 37,000 bottles were saved since September 2020.

Authentic Products & Heritage

Take pride in our local craftsmanship and global know-how to offer wholesome and nutritious products.

We provide our customers and consumers with a delicious, nutritious, and high-quality portfolio of iconic and beloved dairy products. We take pride in being dairy experts that make products with tradition and history. Nutritious and healthy products are at the heart of what we do at Lactalis American Group. When it comes to our corporate responsibility, we stay true to our roots, and innovate towards quality ingredients with simple formulas.

The nutrient dense and healthy foods we create rely on the quality ingredients that we source. Our role is to honor the hard work of farmers with the foods we make. We do this by being a reliable partner to our suppliers while holding them to a high standard (see supplier code of conduct).

Nutritional Goodness

Dairy products are an important part of a healthy, balanced diet. Enjoying them each day, throughout life, can help meet essential nutrient needs. This includes calcium, but also five other essential nutrients that many of us lack in our diet, namely vitamin D, vitamin A, magnesium, zinc and potassium. Very few foods provide as much calcium per serving and with as high bioavailability as dairy.

Builds Strong Bones

Calcium, but also proteins and phosphorus, are all present in milk, and these nutrients in particular are needed to maintain bone health during the stages of life. Consuming dairy products within a varied and balanced diet, combined with vitamin D, sunlight exposure and exercise is the best way to care for bone health. For an adult, dairy products help cover 56 per cent of calcium needs, 30 per cent of phosphorus, 33 per cent of Vitamin B2, and 31 per cent of iodine.

Packed with High-Quality Protein

Protein found in dairy products is considered a “complete” protein that provides all nine essential amino acids that the human body cannot produce. Research confirms that milk proteins rank as some of the highest quality proteins available and dairy products contain an abundant supply of these high-quality proteins. Evidence continues to support that consuming dairy plays a critical role when it comes to reducing chronic diseases, and promoting bone health in growing children, and aging adults.

The Good Fat

Recent research on dairy fat has made significant progress. Findings show that the different saturated fatty acids in milk are involved in some very important biochemical functions and physiological impacts, underlining the nutritional value of dairy fat, provided it is part of a balanced diet. Because of its saturated short and medium chain fatty acids, milk fat allows the consumer to optimize the nutritional availability of Omega 3 fatty acids, by improving their absorption in the digestive tract, even though milk fat contains very little or no Omega 3. Therefore, milk fat helps the body maintain or synthesize Omega 3 fatty acids, especially long-chained EPA and DHA which are essential for brain development and the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Sustainable Diets

Stakeholders all agree that the environmental impact of global food production can and must be reduced. In the case of dairy, it is imperative that we contextualize these impacts with nuanced consideration of the dairy nutritional matrix rather than on a caloric basis. A successful assessment of sustainable diets has to consider four different dimensions, namely 1) nutrition and health 2) ecological impact 3) economics and 4) cultural aspects.

Food Safety & Product Quality

Our Quality Policy is built around six prioritized Commitments. Each Company employee understands their responsibilities in and the importance of, delivering safe, nutritious, and delicious “every day” and “special occasion” dairy products to our customers and consumers. We strive to retain their trust through our transparency and care for their well-being and satisfaction.

The very first priority lies in assured Regulatory Compliance

Lactalis American Group processing facilities are federally and state licensed and inspected, and comply with all Federal requirements of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

The critical second priority lies with Food Safety Guarantee

Operating under strict Hazard Analysis Critical Points (HACCP) principles, Lactalis American Group has embraced the GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) certification in 2011, and we strive to continuous improvement year over year, as expected by FDA and by customers.

We take food poisoning risk very seriously. Apart from the complete GFSI system in our facilities, go above and beyond the required standards with a comprehensive pathogenic surveillance program, certified by an external lab; in the year 2021 we had 33,131 pathogenic bacteria tests performed, for our U.S. plants.

The important third priority lies with Satisfying The Consumer – Top of Mind at all Times

We strive to ensure the satisfaction of our consumers, responding to their complaints in a timely manner and taking them very seriously. We carefully track complaints, with the goal of continuously reducing the Complaints per Million Units sold, according to the Six Sigma principles that maintain all teams are united in improvement projects.

Our key products (“Pillar” products) are carefully supported, and nurtured, with multiple stakeholders managing a strict “Product Quality Process”; we use groups of external consumers (“Expert Juries”) to objectively taste our pillar products using a scientific sensory evaluation method. We periodically perform consumer preference tests against our competition to ensure consistency and quality.

The fourth priority lies with Customer Satisfaction (in tandem with Consumer Preference)

We enjoy strong and collaborative partnerships with our customers; large and small; and focus on our responsibility to ensure we meet and exceed their expectations. We respond to their questions and offer innovations to grow both our business and theirs, collaborating to evolve with the ever changing needs of their consumers. Our Customers chose us because they recognize the high quality and uniqueness of our products, trust our transparency, and willingness to adapt to their needs.

During the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lactalis American Group worked hard to supply our customers with their orders. Plants and logistic teams doubled their efforts, safely, to avoid the difficult shortages that were so visible in the grocery stores, nationwide.

The fifth priority lies with Supplier Assurance

Our Suppliers are key partners in the success of our business. Their sustainability efforts reflect the values of Lactalis American Group, and by extension contribute to healthy businesses and the success of the economy.

Without a rigorous supplier approval program and partnership across our vendors, co-packers and suppliers, we cannot achieve our goals. Lactalis American Group supports and maintains the Lactalis Group Supplier Management, qualification and approval process, ensuring that all ingredients we purchase, use or contract meet the highest standards of Safety, Quality and Consistency.

The sixth priority is about Quality at the Best Price

All the above activities provide the framework to support this final objective.

If we are successful in providing the market with Best-in-Class goods at the best possible price, while fully complying to the first five priorities, our business will flourish, supporting employment opportunities and assure a safe, reliable food supply to Americans across our vast country.

Leadership in Labeling & Health Innovation

Moving towards simple and natural ingredients

Eating well starts with choosing good products and good ingredients that we enjoy preparing in the kitchen and sharing at the table. We are convinced that a balanced diet is not possible in the long term without pleasure and sharing. Therefore, we are constantly looking for the right balance between taste and nutrition in our products. We do so by identifying key initiatives for our brands through important certifications, sourcing premium ingredients ,and identifying consumer health trend driven innovations. We want to provide consumers with clear nutritional facts on products so that they have what they need to make the right decisions in their retail store.

Taking a global view

A comprehensive global database has been developed with a profile on every product, including its ingredients and core nutritional value. As part of this global database, Lactalis American Group has contributed data on over 700 products along with their ingredient information and nutrient profiles.

Clean & Simple

We take pride in being the global dairy experts and making all of our products nutritious, clean and simple. Using only quality ingredients, we have embarked on a clean label initiative to meet the needs of the American consumer. We reviewed scientific literature on the health impacts of additives in the food industry to identify 13 colorants and preservatives that we will avoid in 100% of our innovations. We also developed an internal scoring system to help prioritize avoidance of these ingredients any future development.

From our beloved brand Rondelé, where we removed all stabilizers, to our renowned Feta and Mozzarella cheeses, that contains no added whitening agents, you can be sure our brands adhere to stricter standards than the rest.

We monitor sugar and salt thresholds for all of our dairy products through annual systematic evaluations and adhere to

Important Certifications

Gluten Free

Lactalis American Group is leading the charge in the US Cheese Category by achieving GFCO certification on the Galbani Brand becoming the first cheese in the US to bear this logo.

GFCO_FullLogo_PurpleGreen_CMYK-R-768x526 (1)

Lactose Free

Lactose Free dairy items in US markets.

Health Innovation:
Protein Drinks

U.S. introduction of UP2U® RECOVER protein drinks and UP2U RECOVER unflavored protein powder. Designed for fitness enthusiasts and athletes, the products are made with whey protein in its purest form, also known as “native” protein powder

6 Gold Medals

At the World Championship Cheese Contest in Madison, WI – March 3, 2022

Medal - WorldChamp_CheeseContest_2012_cmyk

Animal Welfare

As a leader in dairy processing, Lactalis American Group plays an important role in ensuring that the industry’s milk-producing cows are treated with the highest standards in health and husbandry. In collaboration with dairy farmers and key stakeholders, Lactalis American Group is committed to ensuring that our products are made with milk produced on farms where the best practices for animal welfare are implemented and observed. We are guided by globally recognized standards such as National Dairy FARM (Farmers Assuring Responsible Management).

Our Vision

We pay special attention to the animals that are at the origin of all our activities and products. We fully recognize and respect them as sentient beings, capable of emotions, that deserve both physical and mental health. Contributing to their wellbeing is our responsibility.

We strive to advance our approach to animal welfare by ensuring that animals have a good life, while helping to improve the performance of our partner farms, meeting the expectations of our stakeholders and the sustainability of our supply chain.

Aligning our approach with the internationally recognized “five freedoms”

According to the World Organization for Animal health (OIE), “developed in 1965, and widely recognized, the five freedoms describe society’s expectations for the conditions animals should experience when under human control. At Lactalis American Group, we support this definition and aim for our approach to ensure the compliance with and the preservation of these freedoms for all animals in our supply chain.

Golden Standard

5 Freedoms of Animal Welfare

Freedom from discomfort
Freedom from hunger and thirst
Freedom to express normal behavior
Freedom from pain, disease, or injury
Freedom from fear and distress

Key Areas for Evaluations

FARM Animal Care

Resource-Based

Space allowance per cow
Amount of feed and water availability
Temperature requirements
Housing type

Management-Based

Annual on-farm employee training
Up to date protocols, SOPs, and health records
Veterinarian involvement and review

Animal-Based

Good body condition
Cleanliness
Mobility
Overall health and comfort

Our Approach and Ambitions

There are 5 main commitments concerning all raw milk from dairy cows. With the exception of commitment 2, they all apply to all dairy cows and calves related to raw milk collected by Lactalis American Group:

Ensuring that all our partner farms do not commit any acts of animal cruelty and, as a minimum, comply with local and international regulations.
Enrolling our direct partner farms (and indirect ones where possible) in a process for continuous improvement, phasing out the most problematic practices and implementing the best ones.
Advocating for the implementation, deployment, and reinforcement of ambitious national Animal Welfare standards.
Collaborating with our stakeholders to improve scientific knowledge and develop innovations on animal welfare.
Reporting publicly and annually on our actions and progress. We are committed to ensuring transparent communication on the fulfillment of the commitments described above. Each year, we will publish a Lactalis Animal Welfare Progress Report that will be accessible to the general public.

Commitments

Lactalis promotes recognized best practices for dehorning and disbudding, including the use of pain mitigation and removal by 8 weeks of age.
Practicing routine tail docking is not permitted within Lactalis supply chain.
The use of rSBT is not permitted within Lactalis supply chain.
All milk in Lactalis supply comes from farms participating in FARM Animal Care Evaluation once every 3 -years.
Lactalis aims to fight antimicrobial resistance and encourages farmers to reduce prophylactic use of antibiotics.
All Lactalis partner farms must be in compliance with national regulations regarding the use of animal derived proteins in dairy feed.

Supplier Standards of Conduct

Lactalis American Group, Inc. recognizes that as a distinguished leader in the dairy industry, our corporate responsibility extends to our supplier network. To this end, Lactalis American Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries have an ethical and business objective to be responsible corporate citizens. We aspire to do business with suppliers that share our commitment to corporate responsibility. We know that clear alignment with our supplier partners on these Standards will result in a positive impact to Lactalis, our supplier network, and further serve to the broader business community as an example of leading business practices. To meet the growing expectations of our various stakeholders, we have established these Standards which define the ethical, social, and environmental requirements by which Lactalis expects its suppliers to conduct their business. In addition to complying with applicable laws and regulations in the countries where they do business, and applicable contractual obligations, suppliers to Lactalis are expected to meet the following Standards: