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

Percent daily values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
New Product–Documentation: Leafl et sent by Patricia
Smith from Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, California.
1999. March. “An incredibly rich, delicious yogurt-style
treat!” “Live active cultures. Nondairy. Lactose free. No
cholesterol.” Color photos show large packages of the four
fl avors.
1179. WholeSoy Company. 1999. An incredibly rich,
delicious yogurt-style treat! (Leafl et). San Francisco,
California. 2 p. Front and back. 28 cm.
• Summary: This handsome color leafl et (see next page) was
fi rst distributed in March 1999 at the Natural Products Expo
in Anaheim, California. On the front are color illustrations
of the cartons of each of the four different fl avors (peach,
strawberry, raspberry, and plain). Across the bottom is a
silver spoon piled high with a swirl of this yogurt, and
behind it illustrations of large fruits. In the upper left
corner is the logo, showing the western hemisphere of our
globe with WholeSoy written in white letters on a black
band across it. The text on the left one-third of the page
reads: “Live active cultures. NonDairy. Lactose free. No
cholesterol. Naturally crafted from whole transitional organic
soybeans, WholeSoy is nondairy yet incredibly rich and
smooth. We start with our exclusive WholeSoy soymilk base,
which gives us a clean ‘non-beany’ taste–and use our live
culture recipe to create our delicious yogurt-style soy food...”
Contents of the back panel: Ours process is unique. Why
“transitional” organic? Ours is a living cultured product.
Ingredients and basic information about each of the four
products. Nutrition facts. “A 6 oz serving of WholeSoy
Yogurt Style provides 23 mg of natural soy isofl avones.
“Why ‘transitional’ organic? WholeSoy wants to support
the growth of organic farming in the United States, and does
so by paying a premium to farmers who are in the process
of becoming certifi ed organic. This process involves a three
year waiting period during which the farmer is following
the certifying agency’s organic guidelines, yet only receives
payment equal to conventional soybeans. Their soybeans are
free from genetic engineering and are grown without the use
of herbicides, pesticides and chemical fertilizers, a practice
which typically costs more than conventional farming and
often results in an initially lower crop yield. For most small
farmers, this three year waiting period is economically
unfeasible and discourages their conversion to organic.
“By paying a premium for transitional organic soybeans
in the second and third year of the certifi cation process,
WholeSoy encourages more farmers to complete the
conversion to organic; this is good for them, good for us
and good for you and the future of our planet.” Address: 49
Stevenson Street #1075, San Francisco, California 94105.
Phone: 415-495-2870.
1180. Conquergood, George. 1999. History of work with
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 453
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soyfoods and vegetarianism. Part VI. The peak month (May
1998) and on the way down in 1998 (Interview). SoyaScan
Notes. May 10. Conducted by William Shurtleff of Soyfoods
Center.
• Summary: When did SoNice go off the market? The
company’s peak month in sales was May 1998 and they
couldn’t fi ll all their orders. May 12, 1998 was their last day
of UHT aseptic (shelf stable) production. That was the last
day that Farmland produced any SoNice soymilk in a shelfstable
package for them. Until July 1998 they continued to
produce refrigerated product on a scattered basis–off and
on, when they could–and when Farmland didn’t dump it all
down the drain. Then came that disastrous day in July 1998
when Farmland dumped a huge amount of product–and that
was the straw that broke the camel’s back. That was the last
day any type of SoNice soymilk was made. So the company
withdrew all SoNice products (soymilk and yogurt) from
sale. They sent a notice to the brokers and the trade that they
could not support any more sales; they were withdrawing all
products from trade until they could reorganize the company.
They were still trying to build the plant in Vancouver,
and they were trying to fi nd the money and the people to
partner with. They had hoped to settle everything down, to
sell product from their warehouses–which they did. Since
they had fi ve warehouses (four with shelf-stable product
and one with refrigerated) across Canada and the United
States, SoNice continued to be available in retail stores
until the end of 1998. Moreover, the SoNice distributors all
had warehouses full of products, and the retail stores had
products. The pipeline was nicely fi lled in May, but by the
fall of 1998 it was becoming diffi cult for consumers to fi nd
products, and it pipeline was empty by early 1999.
George believes that some companies are already using
equipment (that they built themselves and keep behind
closed doors) that infringes upon the ProSoya patent. It is
hard to catch such people; you basically have to send in the
“patent police” and catch them red-handed. ProSoya allowed
many people to go through their soymilk manufacturing
plants, and examine their equipment and process. These
include Steve Demos, Ted Nordquist, and (in late 1997
or early 1998) Danilo Callewaert (Director, R&D, Alpro,
Wevelgem, Belgium) and Guy Huybrechts (Managing
director, Vandemoortele, Soyfoods Division, Alpro). Note:
In March 1995, Philippe Vandemoortele, head of Alpro,
announced that he was leaving Alpro to work on a new idea
he had. He took one of Alpro’s most experienced researchers
with him. His last words: “I shall return.” Continued.
Address: Vice-president Operations, International ProSoya
Corp., 312-19292 60th Ave., Surrey (Vancouver), BC, V3S
8E5 Canada. Phone: 604-541-8633.
1181. Conquergood, George. 1999. History of work with
soyfoods and vegetarianism. Part I. 1976 to 1994 (Interview).
SoyaScan Notes. April 21. Conducted by William Shurtleff