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

WholeSoy, Almond yogurt, and So Delicious coconut yogurt.
The So Delicious plant is located in Junction City, Oregon,
headed by Mark Brawerman, whose offi ce is in Los Angeles;
since they got Nestle as a distributor their sales have
increased dramatically. He kind of abandoned soy when his
coconut milk products (beverages, ice creams, yogurts, and
creamers) went so well. Formerly named Turtle Mountain,
they have long made So Delicious and Purely Decadent
soymilk Ice Creams. So Delicious Coconut Yogurt (6 oz cup)
retails for $1.99 compared with $1.19 for WholeSoy; a lot
less money for a lot less nutrition, plus saturated fat.
Up until about 3 years ago, Silk Soy Yogurt was the
main competitor to WholeSoy Soy Yogurt; they never sold
more units than WholeSoy. The about 3 years ago Silk
started losing enormous market share. Ted thinks it was part
of the scheme whereby Silk tried to change from certifi ed
organic ingredients to so-called “natural” ingredients without
changing the UPC codes; it gave them such a bad name that
they lost a lot of market share, both in their soymilk and in
their yogurts.
Today WholeSoy has about 75% of the soy yogurt
market (in cups, not liquid in bottles).
In about 2007 when Ted moved his manufacturing plant
from SSI in Turlock, northern California, to the Safeway /
Lucerne plant at City of Commerce, southern California, he
had to abandon his smoothies because the plant did not have
the necessary fi lling or bottling equipment. First Ted dropped
the smoothies, then he had to drop his frozen yogurt–and
focused on just the soy yogurt, which is where he is now.
Over the past year or so, WholeSoy has invested a lot in
social media by updating their website (www.wholesoyco.
com), hiring a woman, Yessica, who does nothing but social
media (blogging, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). WholeSoy has
gotten a large number of hits on that site. They give people
information (such as where they can buy WholeSoy), they
can fi ll out a form so if their store doesn’t have it they can
request it, they have free coupons, etc.
It is absolutely NOT true (and is never true) that the
organisms used to culture yogurt get killed by the acidity of
the yogurt. For example, Ted puts 20 billion CFUs (colony
forming units, equal to 6-7 quarts of culture) into a 10,000
gallon tank of soymilk. In 9-10 hours those will multiply
in the soymilk (they like it so much) to where they are 140
billion CFUs in an 8 oz cup. Even at the end of code, after 30
days, there are still about 70 billion per 8 oz cup.
What is the acidity (pH) of yogurt? In most countries
outside the United States, the pH ranges from 3.5 to 5, where
low is more acidic and where plain milk or soymilk is about
6.8. In the USA the yogurt is less acidic because it is so
sweet. The way to sell yogurt (and) food is to add sugar.
Do the organisms that culture yogurt survive in the
gastrointestinal tract? Yes. That is what “probiotics” means.
A probiotic food benefi ts the host. Thus the Japanese have
eaten little containers of Yakult since the 1935. In the early
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 531
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
1970s doctors at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm found
that Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifi dobacterium bifi dus
were essential to good digestion of food, especially after
people went off intravenous feeding. In Sweden one can
buy A Yogurt (acidophilus) and B Yogurt (bifi dus). One is
most important in the large intestine and the other is most
important in the small intestine. Yet they stop short of saying
that one of these bacteria consumed as food survive and live
in the intestinal tract.
One should be a skeptic about the benefi ts of probiotics,
says Ted. He has been a member of and on the board of
the International Probiotic Association (IPA) since the day
it started. The members are mostly big companies such as
Danone / Dannon, Chr. Hansen (Milwaukee), Yakult, etc.
They have held three world congresses (once every other
year), where they invite people to speak. “The science
around probiotics is very nebulous.” In Canada and Europe
no health claims are allowed for probiotics. WholeSoy makes
no health claims. Address: WholeSoy & Co., 49 Stevenson
St., Suite 1075, San Francisco, California 94105-2975; 660
Vischer Ct., Sonoma, CA 95476. Phone: 415-495-2870.
1368. Product Name: [Organic Soy Yogurt (Strawberry)].
Foreign Name: Soyana: Alimento a base de Soja Orgánica.
Manufacturer’s Name: Soyana.
Manufacturer’s Address: Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Date of Introduction: 2012.
Ingredients: Water, organically grown soybeans, strawberry
pulp, rice, sugar, pectin, lactic acid bacteria (fermentos
lácticos), strawberry essence (esencia de frutillas).
Wt/Vol., Packaging, Price: 200 gm plastic yogurt cup.
How Stored: Refrigerated.
New Product–Documentation: Visit with Carlos Planes
at Soyinfo Center in Lafayette, California. 2012. Feb. 23.
Documents related to this fi rst tofu product he brought and
gave to Soyinfo Center: Color sell sheet (15 x 20 cm, printed
front and back) for Soyana Strawberry Soy Yogurt. The word
“Yogurt” appears at the top of the sell sheet in bold white
letters but not on the cup. On front of sell sheet is a large
color photo of the yogurt cup leaning to the left. To its left is
a color photo of all 3 of the company’s products, including
tofu and deep-fried tofu cutlets. The website address and
e-mail address are also shown prominently. On the rear is a
large photo looking down into the open soy yogurt cup with
a spoon stirring the red and white yogurt. To the right (each
with a symbol): Organic soybeans, free of transgenic. 0%
trans fatty acids. 0% cholesterol. 100% vegetal (contains
only plant products). Without gluten. Lists the ingredients.
A table shows the nutritional analysis (3.8 gm protein per
100 gm). On the left side of the rear: Soyana yogurt is a
food made from soymilk (organic, free of GMO), rice and
strawberry pulp. It is an excellent source of high quality
protein, energy and dietary fi ber.