DAVA Foods A/S (formerly Hedegaard Foods A/S) is a Danish food manufacturing, distribution and packing company based in Hadsund, Denmark, specialising in eggs and plant-based foodstuffs. The group has subsidiaries in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia and is the largest supplier of whole fresh eggs in the Nordic region. [1] In 2008, it became a subsidiary of Dan Agro Holding A/S, a division of DLA Group, and since 2023 has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Danish Agro.
As of 2020 [update] , DAVA Foods has divisions in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia, [2] and a packaging division, and also exports its products primarily to the Faeroes, Germany, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, [3] Great Britain, the Middle East, [4] and Latvia. [5] The group's products include fresh eggs and pasteurised and boiled egg products, [3] egg white-based sports nutrition products, [6] and plant-based foodstuffs including spices, cooking oils, seeds, and legumes. [7]
As of 1 April 2025 [update] , DAVA Foods was the third largest egg producer in Europe, with 7.4 million laying hens. [8] In 2018 the group had a turnover of €179 million; [2] as of March 2019 [update] , turnover was approximately kr.130 million and the company had approximately 300 employees; [5] in 2024 the company was projecting a profit of kr.24.6 million (€3.98m) for the 2023 fiscal year, up from kr.16.0 million (€2.1m) in 2022. [6]
Hedegaard Foods originated in the 1980 purchase by the Danish conglomerate Hedegaard A/S of Farm Æg, a small egg producer in Hadsund; the company changed its name to Hedegaard Foods in 1999. [9] [10] In 2008 Dan Agro Holding, a division of DLA Group, acquired the company from Hedegaard. [10] [11] The company moved to a larger facility in Hadsund in 2014. [12] [13]
The company expanded by acquisitions, including of the third-largest egg packer in Denmark, Brødrene Honum in 2002, which also diversified the company into food manufacturing, [9] [14] [15] and the fourth-largest, Møllebjerggård Æg, in 2010. [16] In 2011–2013, they acquired Svenska Lantägg AB, the largest egg packing company in Sweden. [17] [18] In 2014 they acquired a 50% share in Munakunta, the largest egg packing and pasteurised egg production company in Finland, and established a Finnish subsidiary, Muna Foods Oy. [19] [20] In 2015 they acquired OU Koks Munatootmine in Estonia from HKScan. [21] [22] [23] After their name change to DAVA Foods, they acquired a controlling interest in the Norwegian company Eggprodukter AS in 2016, [24] and in the Finnish company Närpes Äggpackeri Ab in 2019. [5] [25]
In August 2014, the company recalled a significant proportion of their products after finding salmonella contamination which was traced to eggs from a farm in Grindsted. [26] [27] [28]
Hedegaard Foods changed its name in November 2015 to DAVA Foods (for Danish Agro and Vestjyllands Andel , the majority shareholders), but continued to market its products under the names of its various subsidiaries [1] except in Estonia, where it introduced the Eggo brand. [29] [30] In the second half of 2019, the Hedegaard brand name was phased out in Denmark. [4] [21] [22] [31]
With the acquisition in 2021 of a controlling interest in Møllerup Brands and in 2022 of Karlsens Krydderier A/S, DAVA Foods added a division for the production of plant-based and gluten-free foodstuffs sourced in Denmark, Dava Foods Ingredients A/S. [21] [32] In 2023, Danish Agro bought out Vestjyllands Andel's share in the company and became sole owner. [22]
