Horizon Organic

Last updated
Horizon Organic
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Dairy
Founded1991;33 years ago (1991)
Headquarters
Broomfield, Colorado
,
U.S.
Products Milk, butter, cheese, eggs, cream
Parent
Website horizon.com

Horizon Organic is an American company that produces organic milk and other organic food products. Largest supplier of organic milk in North America, its products are sold in supermarkets and grocery stores.

Contents

Founded in 1991, it produces organic milk in Maryland and also purchases the majority of its organic milk (more than 99 percent) from more than 700 dairies in 23 states. [1] Horizon Organic's products are certified organic by the USDA and advertised as free of antibiotics, growth hormones and pesticides.

Prior to being acquired by Dean Foods in 2004, it was a public company and owner of the organic dairy brands: Juniper Valley Farms, The Organic Cow of Vermont and UK brand Rachel's Organic. [2] [3]

On April 2, 2024, global investment firm Platinum Equity announced that it had completed the purchase of a controlling stake in Horizon Organic. [4]

History

Horizon was founded in Boulder, Colorado in 1991 [5] and began selling nationally in 1994. It sponsored a local K-8 school's extracurricular activities and even named their mascot, the Horizon Heifers.

After going public in 1998, the company was acquired by Dean Foods. [6] [7] In 2006, the Organic Consumers Association organized a boycott of Horizon Organic (and Aurora Organic Dairy), alleging that the company was not following organic standards. [8] [9]

In August, 2006, the Cornucopia Institute filed a complaint with the USDA alleging that Horizon Organic violated National Organic Program standards in reference to the amount of time their dairy cows should spend in pasture. [10] [11] As a result of the boycott, one of the largest natural food cooperatives, PCC Natural Markets in Seattle, decided to discontinue Horizon Organic products from their customer offerings. [12] [13]

In 2009, parent company Dean Foods was sued by a group of dairymen for allegedly creating a monopoly on milk in the Southeastern U.S. [14] In 2010, Horizon published "Organic Standards of Care" guidelines which outlines its livestock and organic dairy practices [15]

In 2013, WhiteWave Foods (owner of the Horizon brand) became an independent company from Dean Foods. [16] In April 2017, almost a year after an agreement between the parties was announced, [17] the French company Danone completed the purchase of WhiteWave for $10.4 billion, creating a new unit called DanoneWave. [18]

In 2024, it was reported that Platinum Equity had purchased a controlling stake in Horizon Organic.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nestlé</span> Swiss multinational food company

Nestlé S.A. is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 2014. It ranked No. 64 on the Fortune Global 500 in 2017. In 2023, the company was ranked 50th in the Forbes Global 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danone</span> French multinational food corporation

Danone S.A. is a French multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in 1919 in Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris, where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock market index. Some of the company's products are branded Dannon in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breyers</span> Ice cream brand

Breyers is a brand of ice cream started in 1866 by William A. Breyer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saputo Dairy UK</span> British dairy products company

Saputo Dairy UK, formerly Dairy Crest Limited, is a British dairy products company. It was created in 2019 when the Canadian company Saputo Inc bought Dairy Crest. Dairy Crest itself was created in 1981 as a spin-off of the Milk Marketing Board. Its brands include Saputo Dairy UK, Cathedral City Cheddar Cheese, Country Life Butter, Utterly Butterly, Vitalite and Clover.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Britannia Industries</span> Indian food and beverage company

Britannia Industries Limited is an Indian multinational food products company, which sells biscuits, breads and dairy products. Founded in 1892, it is one of India's oldest existing companies and currently part of the Wadia Group headed by Nusli Wadia. As of 2023, about 80% of its revenues came from biscuit products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silk (brand)</span> American brand of dairy substitute products

Silk is an American brand of dairy-substitute products currently owned by Danone after it purchased WhiteWave Foods in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dean Foods</span> American food and beverage company

Dean Foods was an American food and beverage company and the largest dairy company in the United States. The company's products included milk, ice cream, dairy products, cheese, juice, and teas. It processed milk in the United States under a number of regional and national brands. Founded in 1925, the company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in 2019, and its assets were acquired by several buyers in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kraft Foods Inc.</span> Defunct American food and beverage company

Kraft Foods Inc. was a multinational confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It marketed many brands in more than 170 countries. Twelve of its brands annually earned more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oreo, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, and Tang. Forty of its brands were at least a century old.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods</span>

Wimm Bill Dann is one of Europe's largest dairy products companies. WBD produces yogurt, milk, flavored milk, fruit juices, and other soft drinks. It holds a 34% share in all dairy products in Russia, and a 20% share of the fruit drink market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Borden (company)</span> Disbanded American producer of food products

Borden, Inc., was an American producer of food and beverage products, consumer products, and industrial products. At one time, the company was the largest U.S. producer of dairy and pasta products. Its food division, Borden Foods, was based in Columbus, Ohio, and focused primarily on pasta and pasta sauces, bakery products, snacks, processed cheese, jams and jellies, and ice cream. It was best known for its Borden Ice Cream, Meadow Gold milk, Creamette pasta, and Borden Condensed Milk brands. Its consumer products and industrial segment marketed wallpaper, adhesives, plastics and resins. By 1993, sales of food products accounted for 67 percent of its revenue. It was also known for its Elmer's and Krazy Glue brands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strauss Group</span> Food products manufacturer

Strauss Group Ltd., formerly known as Strauss-Elite, is an Israeli manufacturer and marketer of consumer foods sold through retail stores. It is among the largest food manufacturers in Israel. Strauss Group focuses on dairy products, coffee, water, snacks, salads, and dips. Its subsidiary Strauss Coffee is a leading coffee company in Eastern Europe and Brazil. Strauss Group is a public company traded in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, with the majority of its shares (57%) being owned by the Strauss family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alpro</span> Food company

Alpro is a European company based in Ghent, Belgium, that markets organic and non-organic, non-genetically modified, plant-based products, such as foods and drinks made from soy, almonds, hazelnuts, cashew, rice, oats or coconut. Alpro employs over 1,200 people in Europe and has three production facilities in Belgium, France and the United Kingdom. Alpro markets its products in Europe and beyond with the majority of its business in Europe.

Stonyfield Farm, also simply called Stonyfield, is an organic yogurt maker and dairy company located in Londonderry, New Hampshire, United States. Stonyfield Farm was founded by Samuel Kaymen in 1983, on a 19th-century farmstead in Wilton, New Hampshire, as an organic farming school. The company makes the second leading brand of organic yogurt in North America, with 13.3% of the market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earthbound Farm</span>

Earthbound Farm is an American farm located near San Juan Bautista, California. It is the largest producer of organic salads in the United States. It was also the first company to produce prewashed, packaged salad greens on an industrial scale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lactalis</span> French multinational corporation

Groupe Lactalis S.A. is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prairie Farms Dairy</span> American Midwestern dairy cooperative

Prairie Farms Dairy is a dairy cooperative founded in Carlinville, Illinois, and now headquartered in Edwardsville, Illinois, a suburb of St. Louis. As a dairy cooperative, Prairie Farms receives milk from producers and converts it into many different products, including cheese, butter, ice cream, sour cream, cottage cheese, various dips, yogurt, and fluid milk. Prairie Farms also produces and sells juices, flavored drinks, and pre-made iced tea.

Danone North America is a consumer packaged food and beverage company based in White Plains, New York, U.S, that manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells branded premium dairy products, plant-based foods and beverages, coffee creamers, and organic produce throughout North America and Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parag Milk Foods</span> Dairy company (e. 1992)

Parag Milk Foods is an Indian company that manufactures, markets and sells milk and milk products. The company is India's second largest producer of cheese under its brand Go and the country's largest producer of cow ghee under its brand Govardhan. In 2015, the company began producing whey protein powder and since then has launched branded protein powder products as well. As of 2017, the company's daily procurement of milk was 1.2 million litres.

References

  1. ↑ "FAQs | Horizon". www.horizon.com. Archived from the original on 2017-08-25.
  2. ↑ "Dean Foods Company Completes Acquisition of Horizon Organic Holding Corporation".
  3. ↑ "Archives - Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times .
  4. ↑ "Platinum Equity Completes Acquisition of Horizon Organic and Wallaby from Danone". Platinum Equity. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  5. ↑ "Happy Birthday Horizon Organic!" (PDF). United States Department of Agriculture.
  6. ↑ "Horizon Celebrates 20 Years of Organic Leadership". BUSINESS WIRE. September 22, 2011.
  7. ↑ Kowitt, Beth (Jul 13, 2016). "Danone CEO: Here's Why We're Buying WhiteWave". Fortune.
  8. ↑ Lorraine Heller Horizon dairy targeted for lacking organic practices. Dairy Reporter/Food Navigator, 18 August 2006. Retrieved 2 September 2006
  9. ↑ Andrew Martin Organic*. Chicago Tribune, 20 August 2006. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
  10. ↑ Mark Chediak Suppliers of organic milk draw criticism. Orlando Sentinel, 17 August 2006. Retrieved 2 September 2006. Archived October 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ↑ Chris Guy Shore farm accused of skirting standards. The Baltimore Sun, 28 August 2006. Retrieved 2 September 2006. Archived September 1, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ Melissa Allison PCC says Horizon milk will be pulled. The Seattle Times, 11 August 2006. Retrieved 2 September 2006. Archived May 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ Karen Robinson-Jacobs Big retailers want piece of organic pie. The Dallas Morning News, 19 August 2006. Retrieved 2 September 2006. Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ Burnett, John. "Independent Farmers Feel Squeezed By Milk Cartel", All Things Considered , NPR. 20 August 2009.
  15. ↑ Horizon Organic Standards of Care Horizon Archived May 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ↑ "Dean Foods to raise up to $320M in WhiteWave IPO". CNBC. 17 October 2012.
  17. ↑ "Danone's Emmanuel Faber: Here's Why We're Buying WhiteWave | Fortune".
  18. ↑ "Danone completes acquisition of WhiteWave to create DanoneWave".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.