history of soy yogurt, soy acidophilus milk and other ... - SoyInfo Center

our business,’ Tomsun Foods Inc. plans to introduce three
new products in June,” company president Tom Timmins
said Friday, but he declined to say what types of products
they would be. Tomsun will have help in its new marketing
efforts from Juan Metzger and David Alan Hirsch, both of
whom have sat on the company’s board since 1983. Metzger,
chairman and president of Dannon Yogurt until 1981, has
been chairman of the Tomsun board since 1983. Kirsch,
former president of No-Cal Corp., is Tomsun’s senior vice
president. To aid in testing, launching, and promoting the
new products, Tomsun has hired the New York advertising
fi rm of Calet Hirsch & Spector. Tomsun now sells 60,000
lb/week of tofu (sales have grown 30% in the last year) and
employs 40 people. About 80% of the company’s business
is with supermarkets and the other 20% with health food
stores and institutions, according to Madeline Fox, Tomsun’s
advertising and promotions director. Address: Staff reporter.
552. Grocer (The) (England). 1985. Soya milk spearheads
move into yogurt, ice cream. April 6. p. 23.
• Summary: Michael Cole, managing director of Soya
Health Foods of Trafford Park, Manchester, reports that he is
selling about £3 million worth of his new Sunrise soya milk
each year, and producing 46,000 gallons a week in half-liter
aseptic Tetra Pak cartons. Major grocery chains have shown
great interest in the product. Most competing soya milks
are imported to England. Cole imports only his soya beans–
from Canada. His company’s biggest competitor is Granose,
which is selling through Safeway and other outlets.
Cole presently has to feed his okara, a by-product of
soymilk production, to pigs. “But in the next few weeks
we will be installing a vegetarian sausage and burger plant
which will take care of that.”
Cole is a former health food shop owner who has all
been involved in the marketing and manufacturing side of
the trade, not only in England but also in India and America.
A large photo shows Cole standing next to stacked
cartons of his Sunrise Soya Milk. The caption reads: “’Soya
yogurt possible–Michael Cole.”
Note: This was the article that led to the founding of
Genice in Wales. Ray Pierce, who was with Classic Ices in
Wales at the time read the article, learned that Michael Cole
of Soya Health Foods Ltd. was planning to make a soy ice
cream, then contacted Cole and offered to work with him
in developing the product. It became Classic Ice’s fi rst nondairy
ice cream. Seeing its potential, Ray and Irene Barclay
left Classic Ices and started Genice. Address: Manchester,
England.
553. Praskin, Laurie Sythe. 1985. New developments at The
Farm and with Plenty (Interview). Conducted by William
Shurtleff of Soyfoods Center, April 15. 3 p. transcript.
• Summary: Laurie has just returned from a Plenty Board
of Directors meeting at The Farm in Tennessee. Only
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 214
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300 people are living there now–it has a deserted feeling.
But the Plenty meeting was good. Plenty is doing some
excellent work with soyfoods in the Caribbean (especially on
Dominica), and in Lesotho. There were color slides shows of
each program. Their soy dairies there are selling soyfoods.
The Farm Soy Dairy in Tennessee is now run by Ron
Maxen and Michael Lee. They sell 100 lb/week of tofu, half
of it off The Farm in 1-gallon plastic bags that hold 5 cakes
each, or in tubs. On The Farm it sells for $0.90/lb. Off The
Farm it sells for $0.75/lb in bulk or $0.85 in tubs. Their yield
averages 2 lb of fi rm tofu from 1 lb of soybeans. They do all
their own distributing. They also make 150 gallons/week of
soymilk sold as such plus another 4,500 to 5,000 gallons/
month for ice bean (2 runs a month). Twice a month they
load it into a milk truck and ship to an ice cream company
near Memphis. Also 15-20 gallons/week of soy yogurt and
80-90 lb/week of tempeh is sold on The Farm.
The soy dairy in Lesotho is beautiful, housed in a
traditional stone hut with a thatched roof. Inside are white
walls, a concrete fl oor, and drains. It is making a little
soymilk and soymilk ice cream. It has a nice little Okita
stainless steel mill that runs off a generator and also a
bicycle-powered mill. They are also growing some soybeans
now. Address: 17969 Oak Dr., Los Gatos, California 95030.
554. Shurtleff, William; Aoyagi, Akiko. 1985. History of
soya and the soybean development program in Sri Lanka.
Soyfoods Center, P.O. Box 234, Lafayette, CA 94549. 31 p.
April 16. Unpublished typescript. Available online at www.
soyinfocenter.com.
• Summary: www.soyinfocenter.com/HSS/ AsSoSriL1.
A comprehensive history of the subject. Contents:
Introduction. Demographic background. Early history of
soya in Sri Lanka. Meals for Millions in Ceylon (1955-
1972). Establishment of Sri Lanka soybean development
program. A brief chronology of key events: 1973-. Activities
of the soybean development program: summary. Soybean
production project. Soyanews. The Soyabean Foods
Research Center. Role of Sri Lankan government and
Thriposha. Commercial production of soyfoods. Institutional
use of soyfoods: hospitals, prisons. Ongoing training abroad.
Future prospects for soybeans and soyfoods. Conclusion.
Note: By the year 2000 it was clear that the soybean
programs that had been so active during the period from
1955 to 1990 had not succeeded in helping the soybean
to take root permanently in Sri Lankan food culture and
agriculture. We would suggest several reasons. (1) The Meals
for Millions program ended up as basically a food giveaway
program, which was unsustainable. (2) The program that
involved the University of Illinois and INTSOY was
conceived by the government with relatively little focus on
starting new business in Sri Lanka. When the government
lost interest or money, the program stalled and eventually
fi zzled out. (3) The Soyabean Foods Research Center used