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

Ted learned a lesson when he was making Silk for White
Wave; they came out with a different product, and it didn’t
seem to matter much to consumers that it wasn’t as good,
as long as it was approximately as good. Money, labeling,
distribution, networking, etc. determine the success of a
product. Ted designed Silk with a very low solids content
(4% solids) for very specifi c reasons. The main reason was
money–so the product could be sold at a competitive price.
But with the FDA health claim anticipated, Imagine Foods
now has 7 grams of protein per serving, and White Wave’s
Silk soymilk has 5-6 grams of protein. You cannot use the
health claim if a product contains 6.25 grams of protein per
serving, because that is rounded down to 6 grams on the
label. So you must have a label that states 7 grams of protein.
As the solids content of a soymilk rises, any beany fl avor
is harder to mask, so the fl avor of the soybase becomes
more important, and the formulation less important. And the
fl avor of the soybase becomes even more important with
soy yogurt, and even more important with soy ice cream–
because both have higher solids content. So, if one were
rational and logical, the trend toward higher solids would
give Ted an advantage. Ted disagrees strongly with Steve
Demos who thinks that the soybase and the formulation
are of about equal importance in determining the fl avor of
the fi nal product. Ted believes that the soybase contributes
about 80% of the fi nal fl avor and the formulation about 20%.
Steve’s Silk soymilk is now made by SunRich, in Minnesota.
The only other companies that make what Ted considers an
acceptable soybase are Pacifi c Foods of Oregon, and Imagine
Foods.
If SunRich were using ProSoya’s airless technology and
if ProSoya took SunRich to court, Raj Gupta would argue
that he patented his oxygen-free process in 1988. Alfa-Laval
could go to ProSoya and say that they were selling a plant
that made soymilk using an oxygen-free process before that
patent was instigated, and they demonstrated that plant at
an international conference in 1984. The process was not
patented, but it was described in published literature and was
well known. To get a patent, Raj Gupta had to prove that
there was no prior art; thus Ted believes that the ProSoya
patents are not valid. Ted and Raj planned to do a joint
venture at one time, but they disagreed on many processing
issues. His process is based on the concept of an oxygen-free
grind, but it is not strictly so. Then he makes claims that you
don’t have to soak the beans, etc. So there are many things
that the patent offi ce has accepted in his patent that Ted
believes would not stand closer scrutiny.
Ted has compared his soybase with that made by
the ProSoya process; he believes that his is much better.
Shurtleff says that he always assumed that the reason Ted
used the ProSoya process in Vancouver to make Silk was
because it was better than his own. Ted laughs and laughs.
The real reason he didn’t make the soybase himself was
because he had no equipment or plant with which to make it.
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 461
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
Ted started to develop Silk using soymilk made
by Pacifi c Foods of Oregon. Even when he was still in
Sweden in the late 1980s, he began to cooperate with them
in developing a soy ice cream. Ted bought soybase from
all over the world to compare it with the soybase he was
developing in Sweden. He ended up using Pacifi c Foods’
aseptically packed soybase (containing only soybeans and
water) as a control for his Tofu Line and Swedish Glass
ice creams. So when he came to the California in the early
1990s, his goal was to make soy beverages, yogurt, and ice
cream. When Ted started doing his work in Gustine, he was
using Pacifi c Foods’ soybase. They even had an agreement
on the cost of the soybase, the fact that he would be buying
it in tankers, etc. The fi rst samples Ted sent to Steve Demos
were made with Pacifi c Foods’ soybase. But when the
person who fi nally bought the product made from that
soybase turned out to be Steve Demos, then Pacifi c Foods
of Oregon backed off. They didn’t want to make soybase for
a competitor in the soymilk market. So Ted had to look for
a new supplier, and he came into contact with ProSoya in
Surrey, near Vancouver. At that time, they were just starting
up their soymilk plant and they were really naive; they could
make soymilk on a small restaurant scale, but they knew
almost nothing about making soymilk on a large commercial
scale in a continuous process. It was a nightmare for them
at the beginning. Ted did not help them with their process;
he just sent them orders, which forced them to get their
act together because Ted needed to buy 6,000 gallons (one
tanker full) at a time. As ProSoya was learning, Ted was
starting to building his own plant, but he couldn’t do that
until he had money, and his money would have to come from
sale of ProSoya soybase to Steve Demos. So Ted went to
ProSoya, not because they made better soymilk but because
he didn’t have the money to do it any other way. Continued.
Address: TAN Industries, Inc., 49 Stevenson St., Suite 1075,
San Francisco, California 94105-2975; 660 Vischer Ct.,
Sonoma, CA 95476. Phone: 415-495-2870.
1195. White Wave, Inc. 1999. Silk soymilk smoothies
(Brochure). Boulder, Colorado. 8 panels. Aug. 15 cm.
• Summary: This stylish fold-out brochure, printed with
mango pink and green heads plus blue lettering on light
blue paper, offers recipes for: Peach glow smoothie. Chai
cooler. Coconut-banana smoothie. Banana-berry smoothie.
Chocolate peanut-butter smoothie. Kiwi-melon smoothie.
Mango creme smoothie. Plus four secrets for making good
smoothies. “Recipes appeared in Vegetarian Times, July
1999.” All recipes call for the use of White Wave Silk Soy
Yogurt or Soymilk.
Note: Though these recipes were developed by Dana
Jacobi and her name appears as author of the Vegetarian
Times article, her name does not appear in this brochure–
because she asked them not to use it. Address: 6123 E.
Arapahoe Rd., Boulder, Colorado 80303. Phone: 303-443-