Darkoshi

In this post from April 2014, I mentioned that WholeSoy was producing and distributing yogurts again. After that, I only saw their yogurts on the grocery store shelves a few times. Now I've read that WholeSoy went out of business in March 2015, which explains it.

Silk now sells large tubs of plain and vanilla yogurt again, in addition to the small cups of various fruit-flavored yogurts. The plain one is pretty good. I enjoy it with sugar stirred in.

Silk's yogurt has undergone several labeling changes over the years:
Silk Live! Soy Yogurt
Silk Blended Cultured Soymilk / Dairy-Free / fruity & creamy
Silk Dairy-Free yogurt alternative

It was the "fruity & creamy" strawberry-flavored one that I liked so much. When they switched the labeling the last time, they must have also changed the ingredient composition. Now, while still good, it doesn't seem quite as delectable as back then.

However, Daiya now makes a vegan soy-free Greek-style yogurt, with coconut cream. The strawberry one is very good! It might just be my new favorite.

Another nice bit of news is that Stonyfield O'Soy yogurts are now certified vegan. In the past, their cultures were milk-based, but 2 to 3 years ago, they switched to a vegan formulation. I tried the vanilla one, and it's pretty good.

Hmmm. I thought that Silk used to make a different kind of soy yoghurt, and a bit of web searching shows that I was right. It was called "Silk Live!". But the "Silk Live!" yoghurt isn't even mentioned on the Silk website now. They must not be making it anymore.

I've noticed fewer soy yoghurts of any kind in the grocery stores lately, and thought that the stores were simply discontinuing them. There have also been new almond, rice, and coconut-based products for sale, which I thought were perhaps displacing some of the prior soy-based ones. (Taste-wise, I generally prefer the soy ones.)

However, this surprising post: Soy Yogurt-Disappearing Everywhere??? says:

I heard that the dairy industry successfully lobbied to make it illegal to use the word "yogurt" on any non-dairy product. Supposedly this went through at the end of last year. This makes sense to me since that is when all soy yogurts disappeared, down here.

Could that be true?

An article (European Dairy Association (EDA) welcomes ruling on ‘misleading’ soy yoghurt) from June 2012 indicates that in the Netherlands (or all of Europe?), soy-based yoghurt can no longer be marketed as "yoghurt". It seems that it can only be marketed as "a plant based yoghurt variation". The end of the article states:

Earlier this year, three US Senators voiced their concerns regarding the "misuse" of dairy terms by the food industry and urged the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to increase its enforcement of regulations to prevent the "imitation" of standardised dairy products.

A webpage (Imitation Dairy Products) from the National Milk Producers Federation indicates that they have complained to the FDA about non-dairy products being marketed using terms such as "soy milk" and "rice yogurt".

An article from Feb 11, 2013 (Western United Dairymen Challenges FDA on Misuse of the Name 'Yogurt') indicates that WUD has complained to the FDA about the use of the terms "milk" and "yogurt" on non-cow-based products:

WUD reminded the FDA that any product that uses the term "milk" as part of the name on its label must conform to the federal standard of identity described as "the lacteal secretion, practically free from colostrum obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows."

"The regulation is clear and does not equivocate: Milk does not come from beans, rice, nuts or anything else–it comes from cows," WUD says. "By using words such as ‘soy milk’ and ‘yogurt’ in the labeling of this soy-based product, consumers are doubtlessly misled to believe that it is a product comparable to the nutritional profile and benefits of milk."

Apparently, they think that non-vegans can easily be fooled into thinking that soy milk comes from cows. Based on what they write, goat milk couldn't even be marketed as such, as it doesn't come from cows.

Based on the date of that article, it seems unlikely that the FDA has ruled on the issue lately.

It is true however, that grocery stores now often place dairy and non-dairy products side-by-side on the shelves. In the past, they tended to be kept in completely separate sections of the stores. Sometimes now, I even have to do a double-take to make sure that I'm not accidentally pulling a carton of dairy milk from the shelf rather than a carton of soy milk.

This letter sent to the FDA by the Soyfoods Association of North America in the year 2000 states:

The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDC Act) states that a food shall be deemed to be “misbranded” (illegal) if it “purports to be” or is “represented as” a food for which a definition and standard of identity has been prescribed by FDA and fails to conform to the definition and standard. 21 U.S.C. $ 343(g). “Soymilk,” however, does not “purport to be” and is not “represented as” ordinary “milk” (unqualified); indeed, use of the term “soy” proclaims that the product is not bovine in nature. Use of the term “soymilk” does not violate the definition and standard of identity for “milk” or the relevant section of the FDC Act.

It is interesting however, that Silk's new product is labeled a "dairy-free yogurt alternative", while their old product was labeled "soy yogurt".

Ah! The first link in this post mentions that Silk is owned by Dean Foods. The article about the European Dairy Association says that the Dutch ruling was against "Alpro, which is a business segment of US-based dairy giant Dean Foods".