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

akara, kuni, fufu, eba, etc. Soy milk, soy yogurt, and soy
ice cream have become readily acceptable and available in
Nigerian markets.
“Conclusion: The future of soybean looks bright in
Africa. With increasing demand and the increasing costs
of protein foods, soybean offers one of the best solutions
for improving human nutrition in Africa; particularly the
problem of protein energy malnutrition. There is need
for more research and training in the area of soybean
processing and utilization.” Address: Food Technologist
and Coordinator, Soybean Utilization Project, International
Inst. of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Oyo Road, PMB 5320,
Ibadan, Nigeria. Phone: 234 2 241 2626.
1073. Voisin, Jean-Luc. 1995. Dairy like soyfoods in Africa:
Evolution & perspectives. Paper presented at the Third Bi-
Annual SoyAfrica Conference. 5 p. Held 3-5 Oct. 1995 at
Johannesburg, South Africa. Organized by Aproma.
• Summary: Contents: Foreword. The existing plants.
Dairylike foods in Africa–The weak points: The soyfood
itself, and the size of the project. The best “compromise”:
The end products, the size of the plant and investment.
Feasibility of a soy yoghurt plant–an example. Conclusion.
During the last 20 years the author has spent most of
his time in the study and establishment of more than 30 food
processing plants for the private sector throughout Africa
(mainly for the milk, fruit, and soya industries) from the
smallest (US$100,000 investment) up to the biggest (more
than US$15 million) on behalf of small European companies
and multinationals. In 1987, while visiting dairy plants in
Nigeria, he noticed that all but one had been forced to stop
operations because of lack of powdered milk–whose price
had quadrupled from $0.50/kg to $2.00/kg within a very
short time. Today the price is about $3.00/kg.
At this time he realized that powdered soymilk could be
used in place of powdered cow’s milk, so he worked with
a French company to design and manufacture a soya milk
processing machine (named Agrolactor) which made 250
liters/hour of soymilk. They tried to promote this machine
in Africa. The fi rst one used commercially was installed
in Nigeria in 1990; since then they have installed 7 other
plants throughout Africa. The demand for soya processing
is steadily increasing, however during the past 5 years these
projects have faced many diffi culties.
The seven existing plants (with the company name in
parentheses) are: (1) 1989–Congo (Agricongo). This was
the fi rst project to use the Agrolactor. Agricongo used the
machine for research and development. They sold it this
year (1995) to a dairy plant in Brazzaville for soy yogurt
production. (2) 1990–Lagos, Nigeria (Uncle Soyo): A
private Indian investor. After 3 extensions and an aggressive
marketing policy, this company was selling more than
300,000 units per day of soydrinks (pouches), soy yogurt,
and ice cream. After very good results and profi tability, the
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 407
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plant has now been moved to India. (3) 1992–Ivory Coast
(Cebon): This plant had planned to process pineapple juice
and soy drinks, but in the end only pineapple juice was
commercially successful. (4) 1993–Burundi (Vispe): This
Italian NGO is still working in Bujumbura, producing soy
milk and baked goods. (5) 1994–Cape Verde (República
de Cabo Verde) (Benali): A private company is producing
soydrinks and fruit juices (from imported concentrate);
today 80% is from fruit. Note: This is the earliest document
seen (Aug. 2009) concerning soybeans in Cape Verde. This
document contains the earliest date seen for soybeans in
Cape Verde (1994) (one of two documents). The source
of these soybeans was France (See Duchatel 1997). Even
earlier, sometime between Sept. 1946 and 30 June 1960, the
Cape Verde Islands received 1 shipment of 2,007 lb of Multi-
Purpose Food.
(6) 1995–Cairo, Egypt (Sesco): This private company, in
a joint venture with Actimonde, is manufacturing soy yogurt.
After 3 months of production the break-even point has
already been reached (50% of normal capacity, i.e. 20,000
cups/day). (7) 1995–Nigeria: A second plant in Suleja (50
km from Abuja) was installed for a parastatal company; the
soydrinks are expected to be launched this month.
The end products: European soyfoods companies are
now very creative in research & development. During the
last 2-3 years many new products, with better taste and
packaging, have been introduced to European food stores,
including supermarkets. The author estimates that the sales
of the 7 French, Belgian, and Swiss soyfoods companies
he knows have increased by approximately 30% every year
since 1990! Four groups of products have been the most
successful in Europe: 1. Soymilk, packaged in aseptic longlife
cartons and sometimes mixed with fl avors or fruit juice.
2. The dessert products–soy yogurt (Soyourt) and ice cream.
3. Tofu burger. 4. The dried products–biscuits and energy
bars. For the African market, consumer taste tests conducted
in 12 countries show that the most acceptable product is
soy yogurt, which is very close to the traditional sour milk
consumed by many African people. Dried products (energy
bars) are also well accepted, and they are easily distributed
and stored. Soymilk (whether fl avored or plain) is not
appreciated and tofu is too sophisticated at present.
In Africa, up until now, all of the soyfoods projects
known by the author, have been developed on a relatively
small scale with an investment of less than $1 million.
Because this size plant involves too many problems, it is now
believed that a plant with an investment of approximately $2
million represents the best compromise between production
capacity, the market possibilities, profi tability, and
management capability. An example of the cost breakdown
for a soy yogurt plant on this scale is given.
Conclusion: There is no doubt today that dairylike
soyfoods are becoming one of the most interesting solutions
to nutritional problems facing the growing populations of