Dannon

Six U.S. farm groups challenged Dannon USA's pledge to switch to non-GMO ingredients in its yogurt as "the exact opposite of the sustainable agriculture you claim to the seeking." The chairman of the National Milk Producers Federation, Randy Mooney, said, "This is just marketing puffery, not any true innovation that improves the actual product offered to consumers."

Paris-based Danone SA reached a deal to buy WhiteWave Foods for $10.4 billion, a merger "that would hand it a slice of the fast-growing market for organic food and more than double its North American revenue," said the Wall Street Journal. Organic food is 5 percent of the U.S. food sales, with large annual increases.

With $2.6 billion in annual sales, Dannon is the latest entry on the list of large U.S. food companies that will put GMO labels its products nationwide "to ensure full transparency for consumers."