April 14 - Kraft Foods and Probi announce today a license and supply agreement in which Probi will supply probiotic ingredients for Kraft's growing line of LiveActive foods and beverages for digestive health. The agreement is a significant milestone in Probi's growth strategy for the global food market.
“We are very happy and proud to announce this agreement with Kraft, our third agreement in the US. As a company, Kraft is well respected and trusted by consumers and is recognized as a leader in its industry. With LiveActive, Kraft is demonstrating leadership in the growing digestive health category. Probi’s well proven probiotics, combined with the strength of Kraft’s LiveActive brand, will be key competitive advantages in the rapidly growing US market for nutritious foods,” says Michael Oredsson, CEO of Probi.
“We expect the agreement with Kraft to result in a commercial product on the US market within a few months, and further news will follow in the near future about this launch,” Michael Oredsson went on to say.
“Digestive health is important to many Americans and Kraft is committed to offering a variety of delicious foods with a digestive health benefit. We’re looking forward to working with Probi to develop innovative products to meet this consumer interest,” says Amy Wagner, senior marketing director for LiveActive.
With the agreement, Probi is further extending its reach on the US market. Foods containing probiotics have become a rapidly growing market in the US over the past year.
“This agreement proves that Probi has a highly competitive probiotic offering which is attractive to major food companies. Probi will continue to drive the booming US probiotics market and further contribute to the global interest. Probi, with its superior knowledge in probiotics, is well positioned to exploit the probiotics opportunities globally,” says Niklas Bjärum, Vice President Marketing & Sales at Probi.
About Probi
Probi is a leading player in probiotic research and development. The company’s research is carried out using living micro-organisms with scientifically proven health effects. The main research areas are: stomach and gastrointestinal tracts, immune defense, metabolic disorders as well as stress and recovery. Probi’s business concept is based on offering efficient and well-documented probiotic product concepts with comprehensive patent protection, which result in the possibility of considerably higher royalty levels than for the sector as a whole. Probi’s customers include leading companies in the functional foods, dietary supplements and clinical nutrition marketing areas. Since the middle of the 1990s, the Company has had continuous income from commercialized products. The global market for probiotic products shows a favorable underlying growth. New insight into the advantages of probiotics, an increasingly greater health interest and authorities’ increasing documentation demands and regulations are the primary trends that support Probi. Probi’s shares are listed on the Nordic Exchange.
About Kraft
Kraft Foods is one of the world's largest food and beverage companies, with 2007 revenues of more than $37 billion. For more than 100 years, Kraft has offered consumers delicious and wholesome foods that fit the way they live. Kraft markets a broad portfolio of iconic brands in more than 150 countries, including nine brands with revenues exceeding $1 billion: Kraft cheeses, dinners and dressings; Oscar Mayer meats; Philadelphia cream cheese; Maxwell House coffee; Nabisco cookies and crackers and its Oreo brand; Jacobs coffees, Milka chocolates and LU biscuits. Kraft is listed in the Standard & Poor's 100 and 500 indexes. The company is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the Ethibel Sustainability Index.