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

quality is the key point. Moreover, organic soymilk can be
used to make an organic soy ice cream, but there are no
organic soy isolates.
Genice is still the only manufacturer of soya frozen
desserts in the UK. However two strong, competing products
are now being imported: Winner’s Swedish Glace from
Sweden and Tofutti from the USA. Three years ago Genice
made more than 90% of the soy ice creams sold in the UK,
but today that fi gure has dropped to an estimated 50%,
with Winner in second place, followed by Tofutti. Ray is
concerned that Winner could overtake Genice in soy ice
creams this year. During 1994 Genice plans to rationalize
and reformulate its soy ice cream product line in order to
concentrate its marketing efforts more on its best products,
to eliminate or merge its own brands of the same type that
compete with one another, and to put more effort into sales
of soy ice creams. Continued. Address: Founder, Genice
Foods Ltd., Pinfold Lane, Llay Industrial Estate, Llay near
Wrexham, Clwyd, LL12 OPX, Wales/Cymru, UK. Phone:
0978-853-787.
1005. Pierce, Ray. 1994. A brief history of Genice Foods
Ltd. and their work with soy ice creams, yogurts, creams,
and margarine. Part III (Interview). SoyaScan Notes. Feb. 4,
8, 10, and 16. Conducted by William Shurtleff of Soyfoods
Center. Followed by a an 8-page fax on 7 Feb. 1994.
• Summary: Continued: Genice developed its fi rst soy
yogurt in 1988; it was a chilled/refrigerated product that the
company never actually launched. Genice has never made
or sold a soy yogurt under the Genice brand, for reasons
mentioned earlier–that the company wants to focus on
product development and manufacturing, not marketing.
Not long after April 1989, when Genice joined the Haldane
Foods Group, they started to make Haldane Yoga, a chilled
soy yogurt owned by the Haldane Group, but originally
launched by the Regular Tofu Company in 1986. This and
all subsequent soy yogurts made by Genice have been
cultured products. Haldane Yoga product sold at the rate
of about 500 to 1,000 cases per week, continuing until
early 1990 when Genice developed a unique process for
making pasteurized yogurts that have a 4-month shelf life at
ambient temperatures. One other dairy company in the UK
[Bridge Farm Dairies] was already producing an ambient
stable product, but it suffered from protein degradation and
did not contain large pieces of fruit. Genice attacked the
problem from two directions–process design and product
development. The process design concentrated on the
necessity of pasteurizing the yogurt containing large chunks
of fruit without degrading the soya protein. The product
development consisted of producing a product with heatstable
natural fl avors and colors at low pH (range: 3.6 to 3.8
when done). The results were highly successful.
The secret to the Genice process for making shelf-stable
products is the “protein protection.” If the process is not
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 374
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done correctly, all the protein precipitates, resulting in a very
poor lumpy product that looks like porridge. The TVC (total
viable count) is less than 10 in each soy yogurt product right
after packaging, so they are almost as sterile as if they had
been treated by UHT. The pH ranges from about 3.8 to 4.0,
which gives added protection. This allows them to sell their
yogurts using unrefrigerated distribution, which is much
more economical. In the UK, most refrigerated distribution is
done only by very large food companies.
Genice now makes 4 different brands of non-dairy soya
yogurts for sale in the UK in 12 fl avors. (1) So Good Yoghert
(launched in early 1990 in 3 fl avors–strawberry, black
cherry, and peach & passion fruit; this is the Haldane brand;
the So Good name has no connection with the same name
used by Sanitarium Foods in Australia); (2) Unisoy Soya
Yogart (launched in late 1990 in 3 fl avors- raspberry, peach
melba, and black cherry; Genice made these yogurt products
for Unisoy before they joined the Haldane Group; before
that, they were made by Bridge Farm Dairies in southern
England–which attempted to make a shelf-stable product
using dairy technology); and (3) Granose Soya Yogert
(launched in late 1990 in 4 fl avors–peach melba, strawberry,
apricot, and blackcurrant & apple; Granose became part
of the Haldane Group in Jan. 1991); (4) Granose Hi-Fruit
Premium Yogert (launched in late 1992, with double the fruit
content, 20%, in 3 fl avors–kiwi & passion fruit, nectarine
and pineapple, and fruits of the forest). Note that there is
some duplication of fl avors among different brands.
Starting in 1992 Genice started to sell its soy yogurts
outside the UK. First in 1992 the So Good line of soy
yogurts was launched in Spain, in cups printed in Spanish,
for ADM-owned Arkady ADM Iberica S.A. (Carretera de
Hosplatalet 42, Cornella de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain)
with the addition of two new fl avors–orange and natural. In
late 1992 the Spaniards requested their own brand, so So
Good was changed to Alisana; Four Soya Yogerts (120 gm
each) were sold in each pack. The Spaniards are apparently
becoming very health conscious, because Spain is now
Genice’s biggest export market, taking about 20% of all the
soy yogurt that Genice makes. In late 1992 the So Good
line was launched in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark using,
in part, the pre-existing Granose distribution network. One
product, named So Good Soya Frutty, was sold to all 3
Scandinavian countries. The label was in Swedish and the
names of all 3 distributors were on it. The distributors are:
(1) Kung Markatta AB, Hjalmarsberg, S-705 95 Orero,
Sweden (this is Genice’s second largest export market); (2)
Alternative Mat A/S, AVD Import, Kubben, 2150 Arnes,
Norway; (3) Grön Distribution, Hoje Gladsaxe Torv 2, 2860
Soborg, Denmark (Genice has not dealt with Grön since
1992). At about the same time the So Good Yoghert (with its
regular English label) was introduced to Finland, distributed
by Oy Makrobios AB, Leksvall, 10600 Ekenas, Finland.
Then in early 1993 Genice’s So Good soy yogurt