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

found himself short of cash and in a fi nancial crisis.
So he made a short list of potential partners who might
invest money. House Foods America Corporation (Los
Angeles) showed some interest then backed off. Jeremiah
had fi rst met Pulmuone in the spring of 2003 at the Natural
Products Expo West in Anaheim; their booths happened to
be across the aisle from one another. They had a smoothie
product and Wildwood had introduced a smoothie the year
before; Jeremiah thought that Pulmuone’s wasn’t very
good. Some people from the Pulmuone booth came over to
visit. They said that their CEO was coming from Korea and
invited Jeremiah to meet him. But for some reason it never
happened. So Jeremiah never thought of putting Pulmuone
on his short list of potential partners.
Meanwhile, the Iowa cultured products plant was not
doing well. “This discipline required to make cultured
soyfoods is like that in an operating room.” Jeremiah’s basic
concept was to make these cultured soy products probiotic,
which would give them functional value. At his fi rst meeting
with the employees he asked how many people had heard
of “probiotics,” Nobody. Woops. How many had heard
of “antibiotic.” Everybody. He knew from that moment
he would have marketing problems. Jeremiah and a PhD
in microbiology had traveled to the plant, established the
sanitation protocols, and trained the workers. But soon after
he left, the quality control problems returned. Tom Lacina
was more interested in having the paperwork done well
than in enforcing the sanitation rules. This led to a loss of
business and of money.
There was another factor. Jeremiah has come to believe
that many, if not most, Midwesterners see anyone from
California as a hippie. Hippies don’t know how to run
businesses and don’t understand most Midwesterners. At one
point the VCs put their foot down and told Jeremiah, “Too
much travel. We don’t want you to come here anymore.” At
that point things got out of control.
Stonyfi eld Farms was planning to have their soy yogurt
made at Wildwood’s Iowa plant–a huge potential account.
But the people in Iowa could not produce the quality that
was required. They missed a huge opportunity to make the
Iowa plant successful. Jeremiah’s wishes he had waited until
the Iowa plant was making good quality products before
bringing in Stonyfi eld.
Today, the Iowa plant is doing very well in every way;
sales grew 400% last year. Pulmuone sent their R&D experts
there and turned things around in short order. (8) In April
2004 Wildwood sold a controlling interest to Pulmuone.
It was a matter of economic survival. So Wildwood has
become an international company, with Korean partners. To
celebrate the deal, Jeremiah went on a tour of Pulmuone’s
facilities in Korea. (9) Origins of Pulmuone in 1955 in Korea
as a Christian Farming Cooperative. Their mission is “Love
Thy Neighbor” and they are deeply committed to pure foods,
organic agriculture, and no artifi cial ingredients. The saintly
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 501
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Mr. Won. Alex Nam went to college with Mr. Won’s son.
Pulmuone now has 12 organic food.
In the early days, the Soyfoods Association was unable
to attract any Asian soyfoods companies. Today both Asian
companies, huge American food processors (Kellogg, ADM,
DuPont, Kraft), and even state soybean boards are members.
Address: 412 E. Riverside Drive., Watsonville, California
95076.
1294. Ladouceur, Andre. 2005. Installing a soymilk plant in
Iran (Interview). SoyaScan Notes. March 10. Conducted by
William Shurtleff of Soyfoods Center.
• Summary: André has just returned from Iran, where (from
Feb. 18 to March 8, 2005) he installed and commissioned
a $16 million soymilk plant (VS4000), made by ProSoya,
with a capacity of 4,000 liters/hour of soybase, plus mixing
stations. Next to that plant he installed a Tetra Pak aseptic
packaging line. The plant, located near the capital city of
Tehran, expects to start making soymilk commercially (i.e.
launch their fi rst products) in 1-2 months. They are now
developing fl avors and products suited to Iranian consumers.
The soybeans used to make the soymilk will be imported
from Canada. The plant is owned by a corporation named
Soya Sun; the majority of the shares are owned by Iranians,
but ProSoya, and he, and other Canadians also own shares.
ProSoya contracted with him to do this work in Iran.
For the past 10 years, Andre has lived in Ontario, where
he worked for ProSoya doing R&D and commissioning their
larger soymilk plants worldwide, and especially in Russia.
He also installed a 2,000 liter/hour soymilk plant in Israel.
He is now starting a consulting company in Toronto, Canada
named MaxSoy Canada Inc.; he is a soy operation specialist,
and now lives on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. His
second company is Soy Joy Health Products Development,
Inc.; he develops products from soy, such as soy kefi r.
Talk with Andre. 2005. June 6. He does not know
whether or not this company has started to sell soymilk
in Iran. They owe him $3,000, and they have broken two
contracts with him to do further work. Address: Founder,
I&PS, 305b Dogwood Dr. Ladysmith, BC, Canada V9G 1T5.
Phone: (250) 616 1714.
1295. Sol Cuisine. 2005. Sol Cuisine (Website printout–part).
www.solcuisine.com Printed March 20.
• Summary: Home: Where to buy. Products. Food service.
Contact. Recipes. GMO. Links. Products (2 p. of color
photos): Burger (Original, Vegetable, Spicy Bean). Falafel
& Sauce. T-Nugget. T-Ribz. Sol Shakes (Vanilla, Tropical,
Berry). Solgurt (soy yogurt; Strawberry, Blueberry, Natural).
Tempeh (Rice, or Quinoa). Organic Tofu.
Note: No company history is given. Address: 5715
Coopers Ave., Unit 1, Mississauga, ONT L4Z 2C7 Canada.
Phone: 905-502-8500.