Ultima Foods Inc. is a Canadian manufacturer and marketer of yogurt and fresh dairy products. Founded in 1993 (with predecessor operations dating to 1971), Ultima Foods is owned by

Lactalis Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy pr ...

. In 2017, the company had 660 employees across the country and annual sales in excess of CA$300 million. The company launched the iögo brand of yogurt and fresh dairy products in Canada in mid-August 2012, and also owns and operates the Olympic brand of dairy products. Ultima Foods also continues to manufacture (but no longer directly sells)

Yoplait Yoplait ( , ) is a French dessert company and the world's largest franchise brand of yogurt. It is fully owned by the French dairy cooperative Sodiaal since 2021. In North America, the Canadian subsidiary was taken over by Sodiaal in 2025. Th ...

-branded products in Canada .

History

In 1971, the

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

-based Coopérative agricole de Granby (renamed Agropur in 1979) obtained the Canadian licence to manufacture and market

products. In 1993, Agropur's yogurt manufacturing and marketing operations were combined with those of Agrifoods, a federal cooperative owned by 2,500 dairy producers in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, forming Ultima Foods. In 2004, Ultima Foods acquired Olympic Dairy, a manufacturer of premium natural cultured dairy, organic and soy products. For over 30 years, Olympic has produced over 140 different products in a variety of sizes and flavours. On May 8, 2012, Ultima and Yoplait announced they were restructuring their relationship. As of September 1, 2012,

General Mills General Mills, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded ultra-processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in ...

(the brand's longtime United States licensee, and since 2011 a 50% shareholder in the international Yoplait brand) has taken over as the Canadian licensee of the Yoplait brand. Ultima continues to produce Yoplait-branded products at its

Granby, Quebec Granby () is a town in the southwestern region of Quebec east of Montreal. According to the latest statistics from the 2021 Canadian census, 2021 Canadian Census, Granby has a population of 69,025. It is the administrative center of La Haute-Yam ...

plant, but these products are now marketed and sold by General Mills. Simultaneously, Ultima Foods announced plans to begin producing and marketing its own brand of yogurt and fresh dairy products in Canada, starting in mid-August 2012, later revealed to be ''iögo'' (pronounced "yo-go"). The new product line is, according to Ultima, "entirely created and manufactured in Canada and ncludesa full and original line of products and flavours that suit the tastes of Canadian consumers." On August 31, 2017, Agropur and Agrifoods announced that they had concluded an agreement pursuant to which Agropur would become the sole owner of Ultima Foods, subject to regulatory approval. In December 2020, Agropur announced the sale of its yogurt activities in Canada to

(based in France).

References

External links

Ultimayog.ca
Dairy products companies of France Food and drink companies established in 1993 {{food-company-stub