• 🛑 Spoiled: Horizon Organic Drops TX Dairy Farm Following PETA Report
• 👩‍⚖️ Boozy Booch Lawsuit Dismissed By Judge

As it moves to discontinue its PowerBar brand business in North America, protein products portfolio company BellRing Brands announced full fiscal year 2023 net sales over $1.6 billion, up 21.5%, in an earnings report this week.

• Operating profit for the full fiscal year 2023 was $287.3 million and net earnings were $165.5 million.
• Premier Protein reported net sales up by 24.8% in the full fiscal year, with 10.7% volume growth and 14.1% price/mix increase.
• The fourth quarter saw net sales of $472.6 million, up 24.6% year-over-year. Volumes in Q4 increased 19.4% and price/mix improved by 5.2%.

According to president and CEO Darcy Davenport, BellRing’s overall sales benefited from strong velocities, distribution gains and increased promotional activity for Premier Protein, its core brand which includes RTD shakes and powders, as well as additional products like protein-rich pancakes and cereal.

Read the full story on BevNET

We’ve already revealed the finalists for BevNET’s Cocktail Showdown, our pitch competition for RTD cocktail brands taking place at BevNET Live in Marina del Rey. Now, meet the judges who bring a wealth of expertise in retail, investment, R&D, and more. Be sure to join us for the Cocktail Showdown and our RTD Spirits track on Sunday, December 3. Learn more.

Danone’s Horizon Organic, the largest organic milk company in the U.S., announced this week it has “suspended all sourcing of milk” from Texas-based Lone Star Organic Dairy after PETA released a whistleblower’s report allegedly showing extreme suffering and mass deaths at the facility, which has over 2,000 cows. 

⚠️ Some of the whistleblower's allegations include: multiple cows falling into a 14-foot pit of liquid waste, cows being injured by barbed-wire fencing while reaching for grass and hay that had been dumped on the other side of it and blind calves being put in a pen with electrified fencing and repeatedly being shocked by it. Additionally, the report alleges dead bodies are strewn throughout the property and sometimes left to rot for days before being buried.

📝 PETA has shared the whistleblower’s findings with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), urging it to open an investigation into the facility and revoke Lone Star Organic Dairy’s organic qualification for any violations that it confirms. The organization is also requesting a new inspection of the facility.

💬 According to the whistleblower, the decline in conditions has come under the stewardship of Rise Run Capital, a local private equity firm that bought the dairy in 2022 and “is reportedly seeking to increase profits by cutting staffing and selling ‘unprofitable’ cows for slaughter,” PETA said.

A North Carolina court has dismissed a class action deceptive advertising lawsuit filed against kombucha maker Tribucha. 

📊 Filed in October 2022, the lawsuit brought by consumers in Tennessee, Illinois, Virginia and Florida alleged that the North Carolina-based booch brewer’s fermented drinks contained more than the 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) allowable to be classified as a non-alcoholic drink. 

🧪 The plaintiffs cited third-party lab testing which found most Tribucha beverages had alcohol levels greater than 0.5%, and that all of their alcohol contents would exceed that amount by their respective expiration dates. 

🤔 The lawsuit is not the first case of kombucha makers coming under fire for the alleged “trace amounts of alcohol” contained in each bottle.