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

In May 1986 Unisoy began to make its fi rst product,
White Wave Soya Milk (plain/unsweetened, or sweetened
with raw cane sugar) at their present address. Before this
time, the soymilk market in the UK was “very stagnant and
boring, with limited growth. There was a very high price
differential between dairy milk and soya milk. Soymilk
packaging was poor. The ratio of the volume of business
to the number of brands on the market was too high. Too
many brands were fi ghting for too small a market. There
was tremendous brand loyalty, promoted in part by the wide
range of product tastes. That was Unisoy’s biggest problem.
So Unisoy decided to crash the price barrier, and develop
some nice packaging and a better tasting, much creamier
product.” To learn how to make soymilk, Rabheru did an
extensive study of the literature. He found many confl icting
opinions but agreement on some basic points. To help
resolve these, he consulted with Dr. H.L. Wang at the USDA
Northern Regional Research Center in Peoria, Illinois. He
developed a unique process, purchased a soymilk plant from
Taiwan, modifi ed it with steam injection and instrumentation
to suit his application (he has an engineering background),
developed soymilk products, ran taste tests, and continued
improving his process. Unisoy’s main competitors in the
soymilk market at that time (and still today) were Alpro/
Vandemoortele and Granose. Unisoy has taken over virtually
all of the market share of Soya Health Foods Ltd., mostly
because of better quality and lower price.
In May 1987 Unisoy introduced White Wave Soya
Yogart, a line of products were yogurt-like desserts in
fruit fl avors with a shelf-life of 10-11 weeks with aseptic
packaging. This was followed by Unisoy Carob & Banana
Organic Drink (Aug. 1988), Unisoy Gold soymilk (March
1989), Maranellis Ice Supreme (soy ice cream, May 1989),
and Unisoy Soy Yogart (Aug. 1989). All the previous soy
ice creams and yogurts in the UK had contained soy protein
isolates, since the manufacturers did not know how to make
soymilk with a high protein levels. Even today, all the soy
ice creams in the UK are made from soya isolates. Unisoy
makes a special rich soymilk used specially for making their
ice cream.
Over the years Unisoy steadily improved its soymilk
process with numerous innovations. They now make
excellent quality soymilk without dehulling the soybeans,
without adding any oil or lecithin, and using only 1-2 people
to operate the largely automated plant.
In Dec. 1988 Neil sold the company to Daisy Dairies
Ltd. This cooperative group of companies has their head
offi ce in Hyde, Cheshire, and they also have fresh milk,
UHT, catering, and ice cream manufacturing divisions, plus
now Unisoy. He would prefer not to comment on the effects/
results of the sale. Address: Unit 1, Cromwell Trading Estate,
Cromwell Rd., Bredbury, Stockport, Cheshire SK6 2RF,
England. Phone: 061-430 6329.
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 334
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890. Preneuf, Jean de. 1990. Current status of soyfoods in
Italy (Interview). SoyaScan Notes. July 12. Conducted by
William Shurtleff of Soyfoods Center.
• Summary: The biggest and best tofu company in Italy is
Fonte della Vita, located near Turin. They also make some
other soyfoods and have a nice brochure. The only real tofu
manufacturer in Italy, they also make seitan. They come
out of the natural foods, macrobiotic, and herbal traditions.
Amisoya is said to be owned by or related to Ferruzzi/
Central Soya. Their products are generally made from soy
protein isolates. Jean has tasted all their yogurts, and they
are “just terrible.” Soyalat, the soymilk sold by Parma
Soia, is said to be made by Alpro in Belgium. Parma Soia,
he thinks, is not a soyfoods producers, and their line is not
so successful. Société Soy will increasingly expand sales
of their line of soyfoods into Italy. This will be a major
company focus in the future. This is little competition for
good tofu products and tofu is very well suited to Italian
style dishes. Jean has returned from a study trip to Italy, and
collected many labels and brochures. “Italy is a wonderful
country.” He will be back from Spain in 1 week. He plans to
attend the Natural Foods Expo in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
this fall. Address: Société Soy, 1 rue du Crêt de la Perdrix,
42400 St.-Chamond, France. Phone: 77.31.23.66 OF.
891. Gerner, Bob. 1990. Best-selling soyfoods at Berkeley
Natural Grocery Co. in Berkeley, California (Interview).
SoyaScan Notes. July 28. Conducted by William Shurtleff of
Soyfoods Center.
• Summary: By far the best selling soyfood product type
at Bob’s store is soymilk, accounting for 50-65% of total
soyfoods sales. The best selling brands, in descending order
of sales volume, are Vitasoy (about 40% of soymilk sales,
and rising; his store promotes it more in part because he sees
sales reps longer and in part because the Vanilla Vitasoy is
his favorite soymilk product), Edensoy (30-35% and falling;
it used to be the best seller), Westsoy and Westbrae Malteds
(20% and rising), Pacifi c Soy (from Tree of Life), and Other
(Wildwood Yosoy, Quong Hop, Soy Moo, AhSoy, 5%).
The next best selling soyfood type is tofu (accounting
for about 20% of total soyfoods sales, and rising), followed
by soy sauce & tamari (10%, stable), soy cheeses (4%,
rising), tempeh (2%, falling), soy ice cream (1%, stable or
falling), and miso (1%, falling).
Total per capita purchases of soyfoods have risen
steadily since the mid-1970s. There have been no plateaus or
declines.
Bob dislikes (but understands) the way soymilk
manufacturers discount their products, basically forcing him
to buy very large quantities–typically 60 cases at a time. This
policy favors large retailers, ties up a lot of his capital upfront,
and takes up a lot of space in his warehouse. So 95%
of the time he buys Vitasoy and Edensoy soymilk when they
are on sale at discount prices, then he sells these at discount/