France-based Danone has signed an agreement to acquire 51% of ProViva AB while also securing a 10-year license agreement that gives Danone access to Probi’s Lp299v technology in probiotic fruit drinks and juices. “Probiotic juice is one of the biggest untapped opportunities in the healthy beverage business worldwide,” according to food and beverage industry expert Julian Mellentin, author of “Probiotic Juice: Five Key Strategy Lessons from Europe and the US.” ProViva was the world’s first probiotic fruit drink for digestive health and it is still the biggest. Danone is the world’s largest dairy company and is the acknowledged leader in products for health and wellness. Its Activia yogurt is the biggest digestive health yogurt brand in the world.

ProViva’s active ingredient is Lactobacillus plantarum 299v, developed by Swedish science company Probi AB. “It is likely that this move is connected to Danone’s recent announcement of a global joint venture with Chiquita, one of the world’s biggest fruit companies,” said Mr. Mellentin. “It makes sense that Danone should partner with someone who has access to fruits from around the world and expertise in the area. Danone’s expertise lies primarily in dairy. This development also makes sense because fruit is the future of food and health. To the average person, fruit equals ‘healthy,’ and it is this consumer perspective that has driven sales of fruits such as blueberries and pomegranate, as well as fruit smoothies, in recent years.”

ProViva, launched in Sweden in 1994 by Swedish dairy group Skånemejerier, has grown to become one of the world’s most successful innovations in juice drinks. “With annual retail sales of more than $50 million a year, and still growing at around 8% per annum, ProViva is one of the most successful innovations of the last 20 years,” according to Mr. Mellentin. “The fact that it has achieved this despite selling at a 50% premium to regular juices is a testament to the effectiveness of the active ingredient and the importance to consumers of the ‘feel the benefit’ promise of digestive health products,” he added.

ProViva has been extended into a range of other variants such as probiotic sports drinks, a women-specific brand called ProViva Female, and a daily dose “shot” format. “It is significant that the companies have agreed to cooperate on petitioning for health claims,” he continued. “The EU’s new and extremely strict health claim regulation should actually work in ProViva and Danone’s favor, since the digestive health benefits of ProViva are substantiated by a large body of peer-reviewed clinical studies—as the EU requires health claims to be these days—and there are very few products that can boast such a body of science behind them.”