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

company did a very good job given its small size and limited
resources.
In Jan. 1990 Richard left the company; his last project
was gathering information for William Holmes for a lawsuit
concerning Jofu quality problems. Then in about Aug. 1990
Jofu was taken off the market due to quality problems. At
about the same time Holmes and Tomsun Foods fi led a
lawsuit against West Lynn Creamery related to these alleged
quality problems. Jofu will probably not be available until
this lawsuit is resolved.
Richard doubts that Jofu will ever be back on the market
under the name Jofu in its old form. It might be able to be
revived if another company that could package the product
aseptically entered the picture. Holmes, who comes from
a supermarket background, always envisioned Jofu being
sold in the produce case, but recent awareness of tofu as a
“potentially hazardous food” which must be stored at 45ºF
or below makes that diffi cult. Distributors, retailers, and
consumers are all tired of the problems and delays they have
had to endure with Jofu. Ambrosia Soy is a weak competitor.
Address: Sales Manager, Lightlife Foods Inc., 74 Fairview
St., Greenfi eld, Massachusetts 01301. Phone: 413-774-6001.
886. Sand, Ralph. 1990. Early work with tofu and imitation
cheeses at Anderson Clayton Foods in Texas (Interview).
SoyaScan Notes. June 30. Conducted by William Shurtleff of
Soyfoods Center.
• Summary: In 1972 Ralph started to work as a researcher
for Anderson Clayton Foods at the William Clayton Research
Center in Richardson, Texas (just northwest of Dallas).
Shortly thereafter he hired an assistant, Dick Johnson (who
now lives in Cross Lake, Minnesota). Ralph worked on
imitation cheeses for about 12 years. In 1973 Anderson
Clayton introduced a casein-based Mozzarella-fl avored
imitation cheese under the Unique Loaf brand. It was made
at the company plant in Humboldt, Tennessee, which made
only imitation cheeses. Some of these products are still on
the market. These were the fi rst successful imitation cheeses
in the USA.
The goal of Ralph’s research was to develop imitation
American (process) and mozzarella cheeses (with some
interest in imitation a cultured cheese such as Cheddar)
that used soy protein isolates instead of casein. There were
various problems: 1. Casein tends to develop a barn-like odor
when it stands around a while. 2. Getting a true cheese fl avor
from a fl avor house, or by hydrolysis of natural cheeses to
a get a very strong cheese fl avor. 3. Casein contains a little
cholesterol bound to it, so a casein-based cheese cannot be
advertised as cholesterol free. 4. Casein has to be imported.
The best quality comes mainly from Ireland, Australia, or
New Zealand, where more milk is produced than consumed.
Casein from the USA would be too expensive. Soy protein is
widely made domestically.
Their research showed that the casein (protein) in
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 332
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dairy cheese does not actually melt; the fat melts but the
protein dissolves in the water contained in the cheese. The
main problem with soy-based casein-free cheeses was that
they could not be made to melt. There was some success
in making a cheese that combined soy protein with casein;
this product was marketed. They found that a mixture of
polyphosphates (especially tripolyphosphates) was very
helpful in making soy proteins dissolve in cheeses. Soy
protein is extremely diffi cult to work with in cheeses,
especially because it lacks the solubility characteristics of
casein. Enzymes (rennin and Mucor miehei [a bacterial
enzyme that works line rennin]) were applied to the soy
proteins with some success.
Marvin Thompson and Dorothy Brower at the Eastern
Regional Research Lab. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, did
considerable work trying to substitute soy protein for casein
in cheeses, then fermenting it. They had a modicum of
success.
In about 1975-76 Anderson Clayton got interested in
producing tofu as a consumer retail product, either in the
USA, Mexico, or Brazil. They already sold margarine and
salad dressings. This tofu work was independent of the
cheese research. Ralph’s group of 3-4 researchers made
an engineering study of tofu, studying the protein and oil
recoveries, doing nutritional and cost analyses, etc. The
director of research at the time was Mr. Harold Keesee (who
now lives in the Dallas area). The person who keeps in touch
with all former Anderson Clayton employees is Jess Covey
(phone: 214-423-5517). On 6 Jan. 1977 Ralph attended a
lecture on tofu given by William Shurtleff in Dallas, Texas.
Afterwards they discussed the subject. After about a year of
research, the tofu project fi zzled out; the company probably
fi gured there was not enough money to be made in tofu.
One of the company’s junior directors, A.H. Tony Chen
(who now lives at 4113 Midnight Dr., Plano, TX 75093),
was pushing soy protein in tofu or a product like tofu for
sale in China. He formed a company, hired a number of ex-
Anderson Clayton employees, and they were making the
product in Texas. He was having great success until some
economic problem in China put a damper on his work.
Ralph was taken away from research on imitation
cheeses in about 1984 to do other research. He was replaced
by a person named Pete. Dick Johnson continued in the
cheese work until about 1987. In about 1984 an imitation
cheese containing some soy protein was introduced
commercially. Note: Dick Johnson recalls that Tony Chen
exported lots of food manufacturing equipment (made by
other U.S. companies) to China but he was not aware that
Tony did any work with foods. He is now a consultant in
Plano, Texas. Address: 182 Moonlight Dr., Plano, TX 75094.
Phone: 214-423-0050.
887. Buono, Mark Anthony; Erickson, L.E.; Fung, D.Y.C.
1990. Carbohydrate utilization and growth kinetics in the