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

all are made from isolates with dairy protein, cereals, and
vegetables added. They have promoted these with a very
large marketing budget (Peter heard 4 million Swiss francs,
but that fi gure may be too high). Baer introduced this product
because the market for dairy products in Switzerland was
not growing. It is sold at Co-op supermarkets, dairy shops,
and many other types of stores (except Migros) all over
Switzerland. Note: Dairy shops (Molkerei/Laiterie) are retail
outlets that sell mostly milk and cheese, but since turnover is
slow they usually also sell bread, vegetables, canned goods,
etc. plus Galactina and Yasoya soy products. They never sell
Migros or Co-op products.
Peter estimates that the fi ve largest tofu manufacturers
in Switzerland, in descending order of size, are Migros,
Galactina, Baer, Soyana, and PLL/Co-op. If we include
tofu made from isolates, Peter estimates that 500 tonnes/
year of tofu are sold in Switzerland. The percentage growth
rate is now very low. The market grew very rapidly during
the early years (1985-86), but during the past 2 years tofu
has gotten a bad reputation because people didn’t know
how to prepare regular tofu. By the time that companies
had realized that consumers needed second generation tofu
products, the consumers didn’t want to try tofu any more.
Even though they gave cooking classes and distributed a
gourmet tofu cookbook, it was too late. In retrospect, secondgeneration
tofu products should be introduced with cooking
classes before basic tofu. One market sector that is now
growing well is the institutional/catering market that sells to
university and company dining halls (canteens), big hotels,
or hospitals. In some cases the tofu dishes are prepared
outside the institution and in other cases inside. Tofu use
is also growing in restaurants, especially vegetarian and
hotel chain restaurants; the latter cater to many vegetarian
travelers. But tofu is not sold in regular Swiss restaurants.
This institutional sector is responsible for the slight growth
in the total market. Soyana was the fi rst company to sell
to this institutional market, but now Galactina is offering
successful cooking classes for hospital cooks. About half
of all Galactina tofu is now sold to the institutional market.
Now Galactina and Migros are trying to rejuvenate the tofu
market with new products. Both companies have a deep
belief in the potential and future of tofu. But it will be hard,
because tofu has a bad image, like liver or spinach. Peter
feels that yogurt-like soy products will never do will in
Switzerland because the country has a long history of dairy
yogurt and soy products are found to be of lower quality by
comparison. One of the main groups buying soy products
in Switzerland are the “Green People.” They often buy at
Reform Houses, where Soyana is the main supplier. Most
of Soyana’s sales are from Reform Houses. 4-5 months ago
Galactina launched tofu spreads, salads, and burgers under
the Galaform brand in the Reform Houses. Over the past few
years, fl avored tofu products and tofu spreads (Tofunette)
have been most successful for Galactina. They have found
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 329
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that it is important to add new fl avors from time to time,
just like with ice cream. Of Galactina’s 3 product lines,
tofu products are probably the best sellers, followed by the
baby foods, then the clinical feeding products, but they are
all about the same size. Migros’ most successful products
have been their regular tofu, spiced tofu, tofu spread, and
Tofunaise. They are planning to launch a tofu burger in the
next month or two.
Speck once heard that Unilever developed a whole range
of tofu and soy products. He does not know when or where
they did this or what they plan to do with the products, but he
thinks they were for the German market.
Huegli has an annual turnover of about 150 million
Swiss francs. They are in the dry soup and dry product
business. He has a pamphlet describing the company.
Address: Home: Muenzingen, Switzerland. Work: Haco Co.
in Gumlingen. Formerly with Galactina, Ltd. Phone: 031-52-
1631.
882. Product Name: [Vi-Thai Soy Yogurt (Strawberry, or
Exotic Fruit)].
Foreign Name: Vi-Thai.
Manufacturer’s Name: Danone (BSN).
Manufacturer’s Address: 12 Avenue de Broquevillaan,
1150 Brussels, Belgium.
Date of Introduction: 1990. May.
Ingredients: Incl. 4.4% soya products, and this includes
2.8% soy oil.
Wt/Vol., Packaging, Price: Plastic cup.
How Stored: Refrigerated.
New Product–Documentation: Talk with Alpro. 1990.
June 4. Dannon, which is an extremely powerful company in
France, introduced this soy-dairy blended product 2 weeks
ago. The name is pronounced VEE-tai. It is distributed in the
Belgian market. They are promoting it with a big television
ad campaign emphasizing low cholesterol and a balance
between dairy and vegetable proteins. “All of the good of the
dairy with all the good of soya.” It is a fresh product, sold in
cups, with a 3 week shelf life.
SoyaFoods (ASA, Europe). 1990. 1(2):5. Dec. “Mixed
dairy soy yoghurt.” This new product “has been launched by
Danone in Belgium. V-Thai is available in packs of 4 x 125g
pots in fl avours strawberry and exotic fruit. Price around
75BF.”
883. SoyaFoods (ASA, Europe). 1990. Vegetarianism on the
increase in the UK. 1(1):2. Spring/Summer.
• Summary: “Vegetarianism is the fastest growing health
trend in the UK. A Mintel survey on ‘British Lifestyles 1990’
has found that 1 in 5 people now claim to be vegetarian and
most are choosing a healthy diet. Less fats, preserves, oils,
sugar, bread and salt are being consumed and more cheese,
fi sh, fruit, fruit juice, and yogurt.
“Another study carried out by Liverpool Polytechnic on