INDEX / DIRECTORY / DANONE / POLITICAL

Danone POLITICAL

POLITICAL AUDIT UPDATED 2026-09-09
Political Score 7.54 /10 B Danone - BDS-1000 678
Political 7.54

Evidence-only forensic audit. Scoring happens downstream - see the main dossier for the composite assessment.

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Corporate Communications & Public Stance

Danone’s country-sites directory lists Israel as a public-facing market presence, although the directory does not identify the operating legal entity, ownership structure, addresses, or sites.1 Danone’s 2024 Universal Registration Document describes commercial distribution across retail, independent outlets, e-commerce, away-from-home, healthcare, pharmacy, and specialised channels, including outsourced distribution arrangements, without a separately surfaced Israel/OPT policy or conflict-specific market framing.2

No public evidence identified in the reviewed Danone investor archive, corporate Israel-directory material, and focused searches of a Group-level statement addressing Palestinian civilian harm, the Gaza war, Israeli military action, settlements, or ICJ/ICC developments.1, 3 This is a source-scoped finding rather than evidence that such a statement does not exist.1, 3

Operations in Occupied or Contested Territories

Strauss Group’s FY2025 reporting describes two continuing Danone–Strauss Health licences. An early-2017 dairy-products licence grants Strauss Health an exclusive, non-transferable right to use Danone know-how and trademarks for covered products in Israel, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank; exports require Danone’s advance consent.4 A separate June 2021 plant-based-products licence grants Strauss Health an exclusive right to manufacture, promote, and sell covered products under Danone trademarks and specified trade secrets in Israel, including Ramat Hagolan, East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip; exports outside the territory require Danone’s advance approval.5, 4

The plant-based licence has a ten-year term with automatic successive five-year renewals, subject to stated termination grounds; the FY2025 report does not disclose cancellation.4 The FY2025 disclosure also states that Danone or Alpro may not license rival products in the territory, or use the relevant trademarks there, without Strauss Health’s advance approval, subject to preserved use for other products that does not adversely affect trademark goodwill.4 Strauss Health may manufacture and market specified plant-based products under its own brands subject to board approval, provided the Danone-appointed director does not object on unreasonable grounds.4

Strauss’s FY2025 reporting describes manufacture and marketing in Israel of Danone-branded products and Groupe Danone’s Alpro products, including Alpro-Strauss branding.4 This supports continuation of the commercial relationship through the FY2025 reporting period, but does not establish sales, facilities, customers, distributors, or retail activity at a particular West Bank, East Jerusalem, Golan, Gaza, or settlement location.4

Danone’s country-site directory lists Israel, while Strauss identifies Danone as a strategic partner and includes Danone among its Israel portfolio brands.1, 4 Danone’s 2023 subsidiary schedule records Strauss Health Ltd in Israel at 20.00% capital ownership, and its schedule at 31 December 2025 continues to record Strauss Health Ltd at 20.00% as an equity-accounted company.6, 7 These records establish a minority equity interest rather than a wholly owned Danone subsidiary.6, 7

Within the supplied document-scoped checks, Danone was not identified as a positive listing in the reviewed OHCHR settlement-business database materials or UN Human Rights Council report A/HRC/59/23.8, 9 This document-scoped result does not establish database-wide absence beyond the editions and reports checked.8, 9

No public evidence identified of a specific Danone or Strauss Health retail outlet, factory, distributor, contract, or product sale in a named settlement within the focused review.5, 4 The territorial licences alone are not evidence of an actual settlement transaction.5, 4 No public evidence identified of a Danone response to a documented Israel/Palestine-focused boycott campaign in the reviewed primary corporate materials.1, 3

Internal Governance, Content & Retail Policies

No public evidence identified of Danone HR discipline, litigation, union action, content moderation, or political-symbol enforcement concerning Israel/Palestine in the reviewed annual-report archive and focused searches.3 No public evidence identified of Danone-specific settlement-origin labelling, sourcing, or product-categorisation enforcement action in the reviewed corporate disclosure and focused searches.2, 5

The available licence disclosures describe limited product-related governance rights, including the Danone-appointed director’s disclosed plant-based-brand objection right, but do not establish Danone’s general operational control over Strauss Health or Strauss Group.5, 4

Brand Heritage & State Partnerships

No public evidence identified that Danone uses Israeli military heritage, defence-sector ties, or state-security origins in branding or public relations within the reviewed Danone and Strauss corporate materials.1, 4 No public evidence identified of Danone sponsorship of an Israeli state-backed cultural or public-relations campaign, or of a formal non-commercial partnership with an Israeli government institution, in the reviewed sources.1, 4

The documented Strauss arrangement is a commercial licence concerning trademarks, know-how, manufacturing, promotion, and sales rather than a disclosed state partnership.5, 4

Strauss Group’s November 2023 report states that, after 7 October, it adapted the Company’s operating format for war-related activity and sent millions of “Strauss products,” including coffee, snacks, salads, dips, spreads, dairy products, coffee machines, and water bars, to more than 300 hubs including hospitals, military bases, and assembly areas.10 It also states that Group vehicles distributed products and conducted activities for soldiers at military centres throughout Israel.10 The report attributes this activity to Strauss Group, not Strauss Health, and does not identify Danone-branded or Alpro-Strauss products.10

A Strauss Group corporate page separately describes group-level product, coffee, and water support to security forces, Air Force bases, Yamam units, and more than 500 military units and bases, alongside support for evacuated communities and families of hostages and missing persons.11 That page likewise does not identify Strauss Health as donor, identify Danone or Alpro-Strauss products, or allocate products or cash by contributing subsidiary.11

Lobbying, Advocacy, Financing & Logistics

A 17 May 2023 Tel Aviv Stock Exchange filing identifies Danone Manifesto Ventures Europe SAS as an interested holder in Wilk Technologies and states that it is wholly owned by Dan Investments SAS, both French companies.12 This is primary market disclosure of an equity relationship between a Danone venture entity and an Israeli food-technology company.12

Danone’s 2023 Integrated Annual Report includes Wilk in the startup portfolio of Danone Ventures and describes Wilk as developing cell-based milk.13 A May 2023 Danone investor-event transcript separately states that Danone invested in Wilk through Manifesto Venture.14 The reviewed Danone records do not state the investment amount, current shareholding percentage, voting rights, or whether the holding remained in place after 2023.12, 13, 14

Strauss Group’s Q4 2023 presentation reports 4,440,200 products donated in Israel, NIS 17.5 million in total donations in Israel, and 74 organisational partnerships, without allocating those figures by beneficiary, donor subsidiary, product brand, or military recipient.15 Its Q2 2024 report states that “Strauss” donated products to dozens of security-service units, evacuee communities, and temporary accommodations, but does not identify the units, quantities, brands, contributing subsidiaries, or whether Strauss Health or Danone-licensed products participated.16

Strauss Group’s FY2024 report states that the Company/Group continued activities connected to the “Swords of Iron” war, including product donations to wounded people and families affected by the Majdal Shams tragedy, activities with wounded IDF soldiers at three named hospitals, and food packages distributed with Or LaMishpachot and the Bnei Akiva Youth Movement to 2,700 bereaved families.5 It also reports a Strauss Group contribution of NIS 7 million, paid in 2024–25, to a farmers’ fund operated with Leket Israel.5 The report identifies the reporting group, but does not allocate activities, payments, or product brands to Strauss Health Ltd or Danone.5

The FY2024 report further states that Strauss Group distributed dry-product kits to about 120 reserve units, operated a food truck for soldiers for three weeks, and that Yad Mordechai operated a food truck with a chef for security-force units.5 It states that the Group supported two intakes of Gdolim B’Madim (“Big in Uniform”), a project assisting soldiers with disabilities to volunteer for the IDF, involving approximately 30 soldiers.5 The disclosure does not identify the value, product brand, specific Strauss subsidiary, or form of support for that project.5

Strauss Group’s Q3 2025 report states that the Company supported families in need and injured IDF veterans around the Jewish New Year period through more than 2,200 food baskets.17 The report does not specify whether the baskets went to veterans, families in need, or both, and does not identify brands or contributing subsidiaries.17

No public evidence identified in the reviewed primary Strauss disclosures that Strauss Health Ltd specifically funded, approved, supplied, or participated in the reported support, or that Danone-branded or Alpro-Strauss products were involved.5, 16, 17, 10, 11 No public evidence identified in the reviewed official materials of Danone corporate donations to the IDF, FIDF, JNF/KKL, settlement entities, military-welfare funds, or Israeli Ministry of Defense war-effort channels.3, 5, 4, 10 No public evidence identified of conflict-period logistics, free products, services, or other assets supplied directly by Danone to the IDF, Israeli government, or a state-aligned war-effort organisation.3, 5, 4, 10

Corporate Structure & Primary Mission

Danone’s governance materials identify the listed company as DANONE SA, with Gilles Schnepp as Chairman and Antoine de Saint-Affrique as Chief Executive Officer.18 The governance page lists the Board as Schnepp, Valérie Chapoulaud-Floquet, de Saint-Affrique, Frédéric Boutebba, Gilbert Ghostine, Lise Kingo, Patrice Louvet, Sanjiv Mehta, Géraldine Picaud, Susan Roberts, and Bettina Theissig, and lists the Executive Committee as de Saint-Affrique, Juergen Esser, Véronique Penchienati-Bosetta, Vikram Agarwal, Henri Bruxelles, Bruno Chevot, Isabelle Esser, Jean-Marc Magnaudet, Pablo Perversi, and Laurent Sacchi.18

Danone’s 2024 Universal Registration Document describes the Group as a commercial food and beverage enterprise with distribution models tailored to retail, e-commerce, hospitality, healthcare, and pharmacy channels.2 The reviewed corporate disclosures identify no state-held golden share, founding or constitutional mandate to advance Israeli geopolitical goals, named shareholder holding at least 10%, or individual or family controlling principal.2, 19

Strauss Health Ltd is distinct from the broader Strauss Group. Strauss Group’s November 2023 report identifies Strauss Health as a subsidiary of the Company, while Danone’s 31 December 2025 schedule records Danone’s 20% equity-accounted holding in that entity.7, 10 Strauss Group’s Q3 2025 disclosure defines Strauss Group as Strauss Group Ltd and companies it controls, and reports that Strauss Holdings Ltd held approximately 50.98% of Strauss Group’s equity and voting rights; it identifies Ofra Strauss, Irit Strauss, and Adi Strauss as controlling shareholders through the stated Strauss-family control chain.17

These disclosures support distinct corporate-control chains: Strauss-family control of Strauss Group Ltd; Strauss Group control of Strauss Health; and Danone’s minority interest and contractual relationship with Strauss Health.7, 17, 10 They do not establish that the Strauss-family controllers control Danone SA, that Danone controls Strauss Group Ltd, or that Danone has general day-to-day control of Strauss Health.19, 7, 17, 10

The FY2025 disclosure reports aggregate payments to Danone in respect of licence, know-how, and royalties of approximately NIS 39 million in 2025, NIS 37 million in 2024, and NIS 34 million in 2023.4 The surfaced disclosure does not allocate those sums between the plant-based licence and other Danone–Strauss Health agreements.4

No public company-registry extract was obtained for Strauss Health Ltd or any Israeli Danone entity.20 Israel’s official registry provides an extract process, but the exact registered name or company number must be supplied to retrieve entity-specific records.20

Executive & Leadership Footprint

No public evidence identified in this bounded review of the Chair, CEO, current directors, founders, or other named senior leaders personally donating to Israeli military-welfare, settlement, or regional advocacy organisations, holding relevant advocacy-group roles, or attending IDF, settlement, or anti-BDS events.18, 19 Targeted searches and company-provided biographies did not yield a primary record of such conduct, but this is not a comprehensive person-by-person absence finding because no principal-linked foundation was located and no corresponding Form 990 or 990-PF grant schedule was available for review.18, 19

No public evidence identified in this bounded review of executive public statements concerning the conflict.18, 19 These findings are not a substitute for a comprehensive review of philanthropy records, lobbying registers, charity filings, investments, and social-media archives.18, 19

Footnotes

  1. https://fanmilk.danone.com/footer/countries-websites.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  2. https://www.danone.com/content/dam/corp/global/danonecom/investors/en-all-publications/2025/registrationdocuments/danoneuniversalregistrationdocument2024.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. https://www.danone.com/investors/publications-and-events/financial-and-extra-financial-reports.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  4. https://ir.strauss-group.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Reporting-Package-English-FY-2025.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18

  5. https://ir.strauss-group.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Reporting-Package-FY-2024-ENG.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15

  6. https://www.danone.com/content/dam/corp/global/danonecom/investors/danone-at-a-glance/listofsubsidiaries2023.pdf ↩ ↩2

  7. https://www.danone.com/content/dam/corp/global/danonecom/investors/listedesfiliales2025.pdf.coredownload.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  8. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/un-human-rights-office-updates-database-businesses-involved-israeli ↩ ↩2

  9. https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/59/23 ↩ ↩2

  10. https://ir.strauss-group.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Strauss-Q3-2023-ENG.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  11. https://www.strauss-group.co.il/%D7%9E%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%9B%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%9C%D7%A2%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%98%D7%95%D7%91-%D7%9C%D7%97%D7%96%D7%A7-%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%97%D7%91%D7%A7-%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%A3-%D7%95/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. https://mayafiles.tase.co.il/RHtm/1522001-1523000/H1522606.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  13. https://www.danone.com/content/dam/corp/global/danonecom/investors/en-all-publications/2023/integratedreports/integratedannualreport2023.pdf ↩ ↩2

  14. https://www.danone.com/content/dam/corp/global/danonecom/investors/en-investor-seminars/2023/s-i-sell-side-site-visit/transcriptsitevisit.pdf ↩ ↩2

  15. https://mayafiles.tase.co.il/rpdf/1581001-1582000/P1581923-00.pdf ↩

  16. https://ir.strauss-group.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Reporting-Package-Q2-2024-ENG.pdf ↩ ↩2

  17. https://ir.strauss-group.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Reporting-package-ENG-Q3-2025.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  18. https://www.danone.com/gb/en/group/about-us/governance.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  19. https://www.danone.com/content/dam/corp/global/danonecom/investors/en-all-publications/2026/registrationdocuments/danoneurdaccessible.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  20. https://www.gov.il/en/service/company_extract ↩ ↩2