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

product without isolates and PLL was no longer interested
in making the product. Sojasun has never used soy protein
isolates as an ingredient in Sojasun or any other product they
have made. Triballat sells Sojasun mostly to the health food
sector, where they introduced it in 1986 or 1987. This sector
would not be interested in a product which contained soy
protein isolates.
Olivier knows of one small company (not PLL) in
Switzerland that presently makes a soy yogurt based on soy
protein isolates. He thinks the brand name is Milco; it is sold
mostly in Italy.
Note: William Shurtleff summarized the key points
of this conversation in a letter and asked Oliver to please
confi rm them–especially the part about Sojasun never
using soy protein isolates–which disagrees with previous
information. Though the letter was sent 3 times, Mr.
Clanchin never replied.
Talk with Mr. Kerbart. 2000. Feb. 1. He says the product
is pronounced so-JAH-sun, not so-YA-sun. They now have a
successful venture making Sojasun in Vietnam which started
in 1998. The venture in China has not been successful, and
they are thinking of taking back the equipment. Address:
Sojasun Technologies, Noyal-sur-Vilaine, France. Phone:
99.04.11.04.
1031. Gupta, Rajendra (“Raj”) P.; Daller, Frank. 1994.
Update on ProSoya Inc. and the SoyaCow Centre
(Interview). SoyaScan Notes. Nov. 21. Conducted by William
Shurtleff of Soyfoods Center.
• Summary: ProSoya Inc. (named ProSoya Foods
International until late 1993) is the company that developed
and owns SoyaCow, which is a machine that makes soymilk.
The name SoyaCow was intended originally for smaller
machines for developing countries, but now it is used also
for the larger, more expensive systems.
In 1985 ProSoya had no manufacturing capability,
so Raj talked with APV about developing equipment for
ProSoya. APV did some research and development work
for ProSoya but no money changed hands. ProSoya was
considering giving APV a license to manufacture the
machine, but APV found eventually that there are not many
companies in the soyfoods market that are big enough to
afford APV equipment, and most who could afford a large
system might buy it from STS, which APV acquired in 1986.
STS also looked at making the SoyaCow, but decided that
the market was too small. APV has never owned ProSoya,
and ProSoya never licensed any technology or equipment to
APV.
The hard part was fi nding the right people. Once
ProSoya found the right people, they chipped in some
money, got some bank fi nancing, and some small money
from some shareholders. Only 15% of the company is owned
by outsiders. So ProSoya is a corporation with about 8
shareholders, of which 4 are principal shareholders; the rest
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 389
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are relatives, accountants, etc. Raj still has the controlling
interest. Frank Daller has raised all the outside capital within
the last 1-2 years but most of it came in early in 1994. This
has allowed ProSoya to construct a building where they do
fi nal manual assembly of SoyaCows, to publish a newsletter,
and to market its SoyaCow very effectively. Most of the new
funds have been used to build this assembly building, which
does not have an assembly line and does not manufacture
any of the SoyaCow’s component 200 parts; they are custom
fabricated by various other companies. ProSoya has 15-30
SoyaCows made at a time–built to order; each takes only 2-3
hours to assemble, and they inventory only a few at a time.
In the building there is also a pilot plant, where potential
customers can see how the SoyaCow works and taste the
fi nished product.
ProSoya has not gone to any large companies for capital,
and has not had to made any compromises as to its goals. In
fact, they have been very selective about bringing in capital,
desiring only investors who share Raj and Frank’s views
and goals. Frank invested money, and they have brought
in outside money from only one other signifi cant source,
which is their West Coast licensee. This is a new entity in
Vancouver, British Columbia, named Pacifi c ProSoya, which
has acquired the license to produce soymilk in bulk, using
ProSoya technology, for the western part of Canada and the
northwest USA. The milk, made in a plant which ProSoya is
building for them, will be sold to food processors. It is sort
of joint venture and licensing deal. ProSoya holds equity
in their company and they hold equity on ProSoya. The
relationship began about 2 months ago, though they have
been discussing this for the last 9 months.
Another new development is that ProSoya in Ottawa is
starting to make bulk soymilk for food processors. They will
be serving cow’s milk dairies which will be test marketing
Pure-Pak cartons of soymilk, as well as an ice cream
company and a yogurt company and a Tetra Pack fi ller.
ProSoya is aggressively looking for a company to
manufacture their SoyaCow assembly-line style in East
Asia (especially in China, Taiwan, or Korea) for about half
the price they can make it for in Canada. They see a large
potential market in China and throughout the less developed
countries if they can reduce the price to end users.
How much does a SoyaCow cost? The SC-20, the
smallest machine which makes 20 liters of soymilk per
batch, is extremely compact, uses a patented airless coldgrind
process to produce a very good-tasting soymilk, and
retails for US$7,000. The SC-100, which can produces 100
liters per batch and can make up to 400 to 500 liters/hour,
retails for a minimum of US$175,000, not including the
boiler, chiller, and clean-in-place system. They are about to
introduce a continuous-process machine.
People learn about the SoyaCow mostly through word
of mouth and from the SoyaCow Newsletter, which is written
mostly by Raj and Frank. It goes out to several hundred