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

Richmond, spokesperson for Silk. 2004. July 17. This new
product is named “Silk Live!” The previous name was
“Alive.” Steve Demos said it has started shipping and it
should be in retail stores soon.
Ad (full-page color) in Natural Foods Merchandiser.
2004. Sept. p. 41. “Silk Live! A live-cultured smoothie–with
the big fruit and berry taste. Lactose free. Nutrient packed.
All natural. From the makers of Silk soymilk.” A color photo
shows one 10 fl . oz. plastic bottle of each of the 4 fl avors,
plus each of the 4 fruits and berries. On the strawberry
package, below the product name, is written: “A livecultured
strawberry smoothie.”
Spot in Vegetarian Journal. 2005. Sept. (Issue 3). p. 30.
“Coming to you–live.” “You’ve see those drinkable yogurts
in your local dairy case. Now, hale the soy version. Silk has
introduced Live!, a cultured soy smoothie that puts its dairy
counterparts to shame.” Contact White Wave, 1990 North
57th Court, Boulder, Colorado 80301. Or visit their website
www.silkissoy.com.
1284. Product Name: Cultured Soy Smoothie (Drinkable
Soy Yogurt) [Strawberry, Apricot Mango, Peach, Raspberry].
Renamed Organic Smoothie by April 2006.
Manufacturer’s Name: WholeSoy & Co.
Manufacturer’s Address: San Francisco, California.
Phone: 415-495-2870.
Date of Introduction: 2004. September.
Ingredients: Peach: Pasteurized and cultured organic
soymilk (fi ltered water and ground organic soybeans),
organic evaporated cane juice syrup, organic peaches,
cornstarch, lactic acid (from vegetable source), natural
fl avors, calcium carbonate, annatto extract (for color), live
active cultures (L. acidophilus, Bifi dus, L. bulgaricus, and S.
thermophilus). * = Certifi ed organic by QAI.
Wt/Vol., Packaging, Price: 12 oz (340 gm) plastic bottle
with wrap-around glue-on labels.
How Stored: Refrigerated.
Nutrition: Per 8 fl . oz (227 gm). Servings per container:
1.5. Calories 210, calories from fat 25, total fat 3 gm (5%
daily value; saturated fat 0 gm), cholesterol 0 mg, sodium
10-20 mg (1-2%), total carbohydrate 34-36 gm (dietary
fi ber 0 gm, sugars 29-31 gm), protein 7 gm. Vitamin A 0%,
calcium 20%, iron 0%, vitamin C 0-2%. Provides 38 mg of
natural soy isofl avones. Percent daily values are based on a
2,000 calorie diet.
New Product–Documentation: Sell sheet (dated 28 Sept.
2004) sent by Robin Webster of WholeSoy & Co. 2006.
May 23. “An incredibly delicious cultured soy smoothie.
Live active cultures. Organic soybeans. Dairy free. Excellent
source of calcium. Cholesterol free. Non-GMO ingredients.”
Shows 12 oz. plastic bottles of the fl our fl avors. On the back:
Our process is unique. Why organic? The healthy soybeans.
Ingredients for each fl avor. Nutrition facts. Note: This is
basically a renamed version of the Cultured Soy Drink
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 497
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
launched in early 2002. The name “WholeSoy & Co.” fi rst
appeared on this product, in Sept. 2004.
Sell sheet sent by Robin Webster of WholeSoy & Co.
2006. May 23. This was printed in April 2006. “Enjoy the
soy. Organic smoothie. Certifi ed organic. Probiotic cultures.
40% RDV calcium. Vitamin enriched. Non-GMO. Casein,
whey & gluten free.” On the back: Try all four fl avors!
Nutrition facts. Ingredients (for each fl avor). He did it! “Ted
Nordquist deserves a standing ovation.” A portrait photo
shows Ted.
Talk with Ted Nordquist, founder of WholeSoy & Co.
2012. Sept. 22. Ted recalls being at the fi rst Natural Products
Expo held in Washington, DC. Both of his sons, Andreas and
Tobias, were there. They had purchased both a booth and
a station at different places in the Expo. They were giving
away soy smoothies as fast as they could. “People loved
‘em. Absolutely. We reached about $2.5 million in sales.”
But in the meantime White Wave had been purchased by
Dean Foods, America’s biggest dairy company. So they had
plenty of new money to work with. “But then at that NFM
show, Oasis brought us a really beautiful-looking drinkable
soy yogurt; the name was Silk Alive, but before long it was
renamed Silk Live.” Note: It was never actually sold in stores
as Silk Alive. “That product soon knocked WholeSoy’s Soy
Smoothie off the shelf. There were two causes for this.”
This culminated in June 2006. Ted took his wife for her 60th
birthday to Barcelona, Spain, on vacation. He was gone for
3 weeks straight. When he returned, he was informed that
Super Store Industries (SSI) had yeasts and molds in both
his cup yogurts and his drinkable yogurt. Ted got complaints
from many customers and distributors. SSI had noted this
problem in their computerized database but they did nothing
about it. The people who shipped out the product had not
been informed that it was contaminated. Ordinarily Ted did
the quality control every week, 4 days after each run, in the
SSI laboratory test room, checking and tasting products from
1 case of each fl avor at the beginning of the run, 1 case from
the middle and 1 case from the end of the run. One cup from
the beginning is held to end of code–60 days later, at 85ºF at
which point Ted opens it and looks at it. So this huge product
loss over microbial issues was the fi rst cause of Ted’s
drinkable yogurt being replaced by Silk. The 2nd cause was
that Silk spent a great deal of money to get their product on
the shelves.
1285. Product Name: WholeSoy Creamy Cultured
Soy (Spoonable Soy Yogurt) [Lemon, Raspberry, Plain,
Strawberry, Vanilla, Cherry, Blueberry, or Peach]. Renamed
Soy Yogurt in Aug. 2005.
Manufacturer’s Name: WholeSoy & Co.
Manufacturer’s Address: San Francisco, California.
Phone: 415-495-2870.
Date of Introduction: 2004. September.
Ingredients: May 2012, Blueberry: Pasteurized and