DHAKA, Nov 09, 2006
Grameen Danone Foods Ltd., a joint company formed in March by Grameen Group, owned by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Grameen Bank, and French food company Groupe Danone, will produce the yogurt for malnourished Bangladeshi children.
The company's main aim is to offer fortified food to children from low-income families who often suffer from nutritional deficiencies, the two companies said at a launching ceremony Wednesday in Dhaka.
"Our main mission is to bring healthy food to a maximum number of people," Groupe Danone chairman and CEO Franck Riboud said.
Creating a Market and Jobs
The food company said it will buy the main ingredients of fresh cow's milk and date molasses from local producers, provide factory jobs and involve local villagers in marketing. Farmers also will be offered small loans, or microcredit, to buy cows or automate molasses production to improve their supplies.
"The company is small but the concept it represents is important," said Grameen Group chairman and founder Muhammad Yunus. The micro-finance institution that won the Nobel prize along with Yunus owns and runs four companies.
Yunus said the idea for the joint venture came up during a lunch with Riboud in Paris a year ago. The company hopes to build 50 yogurt plants across Bangladesh over the next decade, he said.
Energy Yogurt
The fortified yogurt will be at manufactured at a plant in Bogra district, 160 kilometers north of Dhaka, this month.
French soccer legend Zinedine Zidane formally inaugurated the factory by inscribing a foundation stone.
"Shoktidoi" -- or energy yogurt -- will be produced from fresh cow milk and date molasses and will be fortified with vitamin A, iron, zinc and iodine. Each 80 gram cup will cost about 5 taka (7 US cents; 6 euro cents). "It will be an affordable, nutritious food that they can consume daily, or at least twice a week," said Emmanuel Faber, vice president of Danone's Asian operations.
Source: foodpacific.com
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