Is it Dairy?You would be surprised how often we are asked ‘Is it dairy?’ the answer of course is yes! By definition, yogurt is a cultured dairy product. At the risk of being pedantic I’d like to share some interesting facts about the Standards of Identity with you this month so that you can become more cultured in all things dairy, pun intended! The FDA established the Standards of Identity (SOI) for food in 1939 to prevent the adulteration of food and establish transparency between food manufacturers and their customers. There are SOI for over 250 different food products ranging from milk & cheese, to peanut butter and jelly and yes of course yogurt! Yogurt, defined by the FDA, is a food created by culturing dairy with at least two lactic acid producing bacteria - Lactobacillus Bulgaricus and Streptococcus Thermophilus. Often though other ingredients, such as fruit & flavors, or additional cultures (TruJoy Yogurt has 4 more!) are added. Interestingly, the SOI for yogurt does not require the cultures in the yogurt to be living at the time they are sold. Many yogurt products are in fact heat treated after being cultured to extend shelf life. Post culturing pasteurization like this kills the probiotic cultures, thus destroying any functional benefit you receive from ingesting live cultures. One of the biggest challenges in bringing TruJoy Yogurt to market was circumventing this second pasteurization and is part of the reason we still do not have a ‘Chocolate’ on the market, though we are working on it! The diary mix for Frozen Yogurt is required to be at least 10% yogurt, with the rest being comprised of other dairy ingredients, sweeteners and stabilizers. When we were developing the recipe for TruJoy, it was important to us that Greek Yogurt be the #1 ingredient. Roughly a third of our dairy mix is comprised of Greek Yogurt! When you’re buying yogurt, be it frozen or refrigerated, be sure to check that the cultures are in fact living. One of the easiest ways to do this is to check for the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) Live & Active Cultures Seal. The IDFA is a third-party organization that, among other things, tests products for living cultures. If you buy something with the Seal you can rest assured that the cultures are in fact living. TruJoy Yogurt proudly bears the IDFA Live & Active Cultures Seal! There are a number of non-dairy ‘Yogurts’ on the market today. Calling these products ‘Yogurt’ is a bit controversial as they do not contain any dairy. These plant based alternatives are great sources of probiotics and are an alternative for people with dairy allergies. But it is confusing for customers who believe and are accustomed to real Yogurt made with real milk and expect the nutrition of Real Milk. Legally, we are not allowed to call our Frozen Greek Yogurt ‘Ice Cream’, not that we’d want to even though we sometimes colloquially refer to it as such. Per the FDA’s SOI for Ice Cream, there must at least 10% milkfat in the product, TruJoy Yogurt has only 5%. The requisite 10% milkfat for ice cream has its origins in transparency and protection laws – milkfat is the most expensive component of dairy products and unscrupulous ice cream manufactures were skimping on the fat and cheating their customers out of the cream! Milkfat ranges from 10% for ‘commodity’ Ice Cream and goes all the way up to 16% for ‘super premium’ Ice Cream. We are proud to make our Frozen Greek Yogurt with Real Milk from Real Cows. If we used anything else, it wouldn’t be Yogurt! Milk is naturally nutritious and you only boost its benefits when you culture it. Hopefully you benefit from this lesson in culture! Truly & Joyfully, Charlie
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