May 6, 2026 – Toronto, ON – Lactalis Canada, the Canadian dairy leader behind iconic brands like Cracker Barrel, Black Diamond, Balderson, Astro, and Lactantia, and part of France-based Lactalis Group, today released its 2025 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report, highlighting continued progress in delivering sustainable, responsible growth while strengthening its connection to Canadians, communities, and the broader dairy sector.

“In 2025, despite ongoing economic uncertainty, Lactalis Canada remained firmly anchored in our purpose: to enrich and nurture the lives of Canadians through sustainable, responsible growth,” said Mark Taylor, President & CEO, Lactalis Canada. “We continued to deliver trusted products, strengthen partnerships across our value chain, and advance our ESG priorities in practical and measurable ways. As we look ahead, we remain focused on building a resilient dairy sector, supporting communities, and advancing ESG priorities in collaboration with our employees, farmers, customers, partners and suppliers.

With more than 140 years of heritage in Canada, Lactalis Canada’s products are now found in 94% of refrigerators nationwide, reflecting the strong trust Canadians place in its brands. In 2025, the company reinforced its commitment to local production through Buy Canadian initiatives, including consumer campaigns and expanded use of the Blue Cow logo to help Canadians make informed purchasing decisions.

The company also demonstrated leadership across the industry by becoming the first supplier to formally sign the Grocery Code of Conduct, supporting greater transparency, accountability, and fairness across the grocery supply chain.

Aligned with Lactalis Group’s global ESG framework, the report focuses on three pillars of impact: People & Communities; Authentic Products & Heritage; and Land & Resources, underpinned by priorities in Climate, Circular Economy & Packaging, and Animal Welfare.

Key 2025 highlights include:

People & Communities

• Recognized on Forbes’ Canada’s Best Employers 2025 list
• Contributed $3.4 million in community investment and supported 125+ organizations nationwide
• Delivered 2,400 employee volunteer hours, a 21% increase year-over-year
• Continued partnerships with Kids Help Phone and The Grocery Foundation to support youth wellbeing and food security, along with partnering with Second Harvest on its Food Rescue App

Authentic Products & Heritage

• Expanded product innovation, including high-protein and lactose-free offerings aligned with evolving consumer needs
• Maintained strong food safety performance, with 100% of distribution centres certified to recognized standards
• Advanced responsible sourcing, achieving 100% cage-free egg sourcing across the portfolio

Land & Resources

• Entered a $10 million decarbonization partnership with SOFIAC to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions at our Victoriaville and Laverlochère Quebec facilities.
• Awarded the Canadian Grocer 2025 Impact Award (sustainability category) for our Oshawa, Ontario distribution centre’s sustainable design
• Advanced circular packaging initiatives across our operations, including – among other projects – the conversion of the Balderson spreadable tub to a fully recyclable design and the replacement of foil on 45 million butter stick packs with a compostable parchment solution.

The report also highlights employee-driven innovation through the Next Ventures program, which generated more than 100 ESG-focused ideas in 2025.

To read Lactalis Canada’s 2025 ESG Report, click HERE.

SAN DIEGO, USA & HOERSHOLM, Denmark, May. 6, 2026 — Debut, a pioneer in AI-powered biotech innovation, and Oterra, a leading supplier of natural colors and color solutions for the food and beverage industry, today announced a multi-million-dollar collaboration to develop and scale a natural alternative to artificial red colors for food and beverage applications.

The partnership will scale Debut’s precision fermentation process to create a high-performing natural alternative to Red 40, one of the most widely used red color additives in U.S. food and beverage products.*

Combining Debut’s technology with Oterra’s formulation expertise will make it possible to produce natural color solutions spanning orange, red, and violet, offering a full range of stable shades to food and beverage manufacturers.

Debut and Oterra will collaborate with leading food and beverage companies ahead of commercialization while working toward an FDA approval filing, with the goal of bringing a commercially scaled product to market in approximately three years.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have encouraged food manufacturers to phase out certain FD&C certified food colorings by the end of 2026, accelerating demand for high-performing natural alternatives.

“Our collaboration with Debut brings exciting new technology options to significantly strengthen our natural portfolio with optimized technical performance. It also offers secure supply, independent of weather and harvest without compromising on natural credentials,” said Luc Ganivet, Head of Innovation for Oterra. “Oterra has a 150-year heritage of innovating colors from natural sources including several Red 40 alternatives.”

“We’re excited to fast-track the commercialization of natural red alternatives from precision fermentation with Oterra,” said Joshua Britton, PhD, Founder and CEO of Debut. “Biotech offers clear advantages that align with evolving market demand. Its adoption in the food and beverage industry is particularly compelling, providing a high-performance alternative to FD&C colors and Red 40, which faces increased regulatory scrutiny.”

The advanced precision fermentation techniques will also contribute to reduced land and water use, compared with traditionally cultivated sources for red alternatives.

The Red 40 alternative will work in a broad range of applications and will also be compatible with vegan, kosher, and halal certifications for food and beverage companies.

*Sources: Oterra data and FDA color certification(https://www.fda.gov/industry/color-certification/color-certification-reports)

At interpack 2026, Sidel (Booth B47, Hall 13) will officially unveil a unique edible oil bottle produced using laser technology. Featuring a Power Ring®, the 1L bottle achieves a 20% weight reduction compared with a halogen-blown equivalent delivering comparable overall performance, while maintaining grip in consumers’ hands and vertical strength for logistics.

This bottle illustrates a fundamental change in the design approach made possible by laser heating. PET is intentionally concentrated only where it contributes to mechanical performance, while unnecessary material is removed elsewhere. This precision allows material to be placed where it contributes most to mechanical performance. 

The result is a 1L edible oil bottle weighing just 16.5g, a 4g PET saving when compared with its equivalent in halogen, which would weigh 20.5g to deliver similar performance. By reinforcing critical stress areas and avoiding unnecessary material use, this design shows how lightweighting can be extended when strength is added with purpose and not by default.

In this bottle, the Power Ring design plays a central role in consumer handling. Acting as a targeted reinforcement, it concentrates material exactly where needed to maintain side load performance during opening and pouring. From a logistics perspective, the overall material distribution ensures the bottle remains robust throughout the supply chain with a secured top load performance comparable to a heavier halogen alternative. At the same time, other areas of the container, including zones such as under the neck or on the bottle base, feature optimised stretching and a lower quantity of material.

“This 100% rPET bottle clearly shows how laser precision allows us to rethink packaging design for edible oil”, said Jerome Neveu, Packaging and Mold Product Manager at Sidel. “The Power Ring design is a concrete example of mastering exact PET distribution to optimise edible oil packaging while meeting the functional demands of this market.” 

At , the Power Ring laser‑blown bottle will be displayed alongside its halogen‑blown counterpart, allowing visitors to directly compare the 16.5g laser bottle with the 20.5g halogen version. Interactive displays on the Sidel stand will enable hands‑on comparison of weight and resistance.

Find out more about Sidel’s latest Power Ring laser-blown bottle and how you can access this kind of support for your business on the Sidel website

The 19th European PhD Workshop on Food Engineering and Technology brought together 19 highly talented PhD students and recent postdoctoral researchers from across Europe, along with their supervisors.

The workshop, held on April 28 and 29, was organized by the Food Section of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE), and saw young researchers present their work, exchange ideas, and build valuable connections with both academic peers and industry leaders.

Supported by an industry board including Alfa Laval, Bühler, Elea, GNT, Nestlé, and Yili, the event highlights the critical role of cross-sector collaboration in driving innovation and addressing future challenges in the global food industry. Hosting the workshop showcases Alfa Laval’s commitment to engaging with students and academia in finding solutions to feed the world’s growing population.

“We are proud and delighted to have welcomed such a knowledgeable and dedicated group of researchers,” says Johan Agrell, Strategic Business Development Manager at Alfa Laval. “Engaging with young talent is essential to advancing innovation, and this workshop created a valuable space for collaboration, learning, and the exchange of new perspectives between academia and industry.

“The industry faces significant challenges ahead in meeting global food demand, and we can only succeed by fostering the development of future talent and pioneering solutions in processing technology.”

One of the highlights of the event was the presentation of the EFCE Food Engineering Awards, recognizing the most outstanding research contributions. The awards reflected the high scientific quality, creativity, and innovation demonstrated throughout the workshop.

The winner of the first prize was Kate Waldert, BOKU University, Austria, whose outstanding research on tailored design for ohmic baking of wheat bread received glowing praise from the judges. In a high-quality field, Felix Ellwanger, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, won the second-place award for his study in mechanistic understanding of twin-screw extrusion of plant proteins. Julia Baumgartner, ETH Zürich, Switzerland, and Koen Wetterauw, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, shared the third prize for their in-depth analysis of microalgal lipid droplets as functional ingredients for food and mechanistic foundation for dry fractionation respectively.

Henry Jäger, professor at BOKU University and co-chair of the workshop, says: “This year the standard of research and the talent of those participating was extremely impressive with a diversity which highlighted the variety and breadth of the challenges ahead.

“The quality of the research entries shows that the study of food engineering and technology is in good hands as we head into the future and I look forward to seeing how these ideas and innovations are integrated into the industry to make a real difference in boosting the global food supply.”

The first European PhD Workshop on Food Engineering and Technology took place in Germany in 2007 and has since been held across many European destinations before this latest successful event in Sweden.

Read more: Alfa Laval hosts prestigious academic event seeking global solutions in food engineering and technology

In the picture from the left: Dr Johan Agrell, Strategic Business Development Manager, Alfa Laval, Dr Kemal Aganovic, Professor at DIL Deutsches Institut für Lebensmitteltechnik e. V., Dr Kate Waldert, BOKU University and Dr Henry Jäger, Professor at BOKU University.