LONDON šC Danone¡¯s lawsuit against Chobani over protein claims makes it clear the French dairy company sees its U.S. rival as a threat in one of the few food groups seeing a boost from weight-loss drug users both during and after they get their GLP-1 fix: yogurt.

Danone, which has struggled to meet growing consumer demand ?for high-protein products, sued Chobani in a Manhattan federal court on Monday, accusing it of inflating protein claims on labels on multiple-serving ?tubs of ?Chobani 20G Protein, which it calls a direct rival to its Oikos Pro in the ultra-high-protein yogurt ?category. The battle for protein supremacy is particularly important in the United States, where growing numbers of GLP-1 weight-loss drug users are seeking out protein-heavy products to combat muscle wastage. A consumer study by Boston Consulting Group showed that unlike products such as ?protein shakes, yogurt is among a handful of foods that see a more permanent boost from weight-loss drugs.

¡°High-protein foods like yogurt or ... meat seem to ?increase in frequency during and even more after stopping GLP-1s,¡± Lauren Taylor, managing director and senior partner at BCG, said.

The Paris-based company accused Chobani of copying its product and misleading consumers to improve sales, allegations Chobani dismissed. Danone ?also said Chobani¡¯s methods were allowing it to undercut ?Danone¡¯s €1 billion Oikos brand on price. Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya said Danone was ¡°throwing things out there¡± to create damaging headlines for the privately held New York company, which he founded in 2007.

¡°In ?a way, I am kind ?of laughing at it,¡± Ulukaya said. ¡°We never add external protein to our products. ?We will never mislead anybody.¡±

Danone, in a statement, said it believes consumers should be able to make product ?comparisons with ¡°clear, accurate ?and consistent nutrition information.¡± It said Chobani¡¯s multiserve labeling inflates its serving size, which it believes is misleading to consumers, rendering them unable to make ¡°an accurate comparison between products.¡±

Danone, which highlighted its struggles to meet extremely high demand for high-protein yogurts in the second half of 2025, is steadily adding more production capacity. But Barclays ?analysts said in May that investors are getting nervous for what they see as a lack of urgency around the recovery of Danone¡¯s U.S. dairy business. The company¡¯s shares are down 15% this year, compared with an 11% rise in the MSCI World Index.

¡°Competitors, notably Chobani, (are) doing a much better job and growing currently at more than 20%,¡± Barclays said. ¡°There is a feeling that Danone has been too slow to add ?capacity ?and perhaps it needs to spend more to compete with aggressive competitors such as Chobani.¡± According to NielsenIQ ?data shared by Chobani, the company¡¯s U.S....