
	Health & Diet Allergens Vegan Kosher FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do you add sugar to your cultured products?

What are "probiotic" cultures? Do the WholeSoy cultured products contain probiotic cultures?

How can WholeSoy Frozen Yogurt have living cultures?

Why do you use natural flavors and colors? What do they consist of?

Why do you use #5 plastic yogurt cups and not #2 which can be recycled?

Are all of the WholeSoy products made with organic soybeans?

Why do you use the soybean as the basis for all of your products?

Is it healthy to eat soybean products?

Is there any casein, gluten or whey in any of the WholeSoy products?

Have your products been tested by an independent lab for casein, whey and gluten?

What do I do if I suspect I or one of my children has an allergic reaction to one of your products?

What does Kosher Pareve mean?

What is the dietetic exchange of WholeSoy?

What are the phosphorous and potassium values in WholeSoy Soy Yogurt?

Why do you add sugar to your cultured products?

We add organic evaporated cane juice to our cultured soy products because the cultures "feed" on sugar. Cow's milk contains lactose, or milk sugar, but there is no natural sugar in soymilk. All of our products start with our own soymilk made by extracting only the soy protein and oil from the whole soybeans. Next, we introduce the sugar and cultures to the base and add specific ingredients, like fruit, to produce various flavors. The live cultures that we use continue to feed on the sugar and multiply during production. Through this process, the more complex sugars are reduced to simple sugars.

What are "probiotic" cultures? Do the WholeSoy cultured products contain probiotic cultures?

Probiotic is a fancy way of describing those living cultures that, when consumed, are beneficial to the intestinal system. Our gastrointestinal tract is full of both bad and good bacteria. Many, often unavoidable, circumstances in our environment including stress, food additives, and pollutants can cause any number of gastrointenstinal complaints. Living cultures found in yogurt increase the good bacteria in the digestive tract and are believed to help prevent a host of maladies including diarrhea, constipation, ulcers, infections, high cholesterol, food poisoning, irritable bowel syndrome and lactose intolerance.

All of our cultured soy products contain the following probiotics: L. Acidophilus, B. Bifidium, L. Bulgaricus and S. Thermophilus. In accordance with our commitment to vegan products, the cultures we use are all grown on a vegetable medium.

How can WholeSoy Frozen Soy Yogurt have living cultures?

All cultures used in the yogurt industry are produced and then shipped and stored in sub zero temperatures. This freezing makes the cultures "dormant" but does not kill them.

When it is time to produce our frozen yogurt we place a small amount of the frozen cultures into the soymilk base. These cultures then mix with the warm base and begin to grow. As the cultures multiply they convert the added organic evaporated cane juice to simple sugars and the pH of the soymilk goes down to a level where the acidity tells us that the cultures have turned the soymilk into a soy yogurt.

When a batch of pints is finished, it goes straight to the freezer where the cultures return to their dormant state. Once the product is eaten, and the cultures enter your warm body, they will again come alive and help balance your digestive system.

Why do you use natural flavors and colors? What do they consist of?

WholeSoy products are made with all natural, and in most cases, certified organic ingredients. We do not use genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or monosodium glutamate (MSG), but we do use natural flavors and colors to ensure consistency of taste, appearance and texture from one batch to the next.

The exact ingredients in the flavors are proprietary to the company that produces them, however, all flavors we use are free of animal products, gluten, whey, casein, and peanuts.

Natural colors are more straightforward. We use natural colors to give consistent color to our products. These all-natural colors allow us to avoid using chemically derived synthetic coloring agents. Some examples of the colors that we use are Annatto (derived from the pulp around the seeds of a tropical tree, Bixa orellana), Red Cabbage, Turmeric (a spice), Purple Sweet Potato and Hibiscus Flower Extract.

Why do you use #5 plastic yogurt cups and not #2 which can be recycled?

We use both #5 and #1 plastic cups in our packaging. Many customers express concern over the recyclability of the #5 cups in their neighborhoods. Naturally, recycling is an important issue to us and is aligned with our goals of sustainability and reducing environmental impact. Number 5 plastic cups are not commonly recycled due to the fact they have a different melting point than other plastics. However, in examining our packaging choices, we found that #5 plastic is much stronger and more lightweight than other plastics. We looked at the "life span" of plastic yogurt cups from manufacturing to disposal. We found #5 plastic requires the fewest resources to manufacture and transport. This examination not only takes into account manufacturing the cups, but also how the weight of the plastic affects fuel economy during transportation of the cups. In fact, many recycling programs do not actually recycle any wide-mouthed plastic containers, including #2 yogurt cups. Considering that so many yogurt cups end up in landfills, we decided to reduce our impact by using #5 plastic.

We are happy to recycle your WholeSoy #5 plastic cups for you. Please thoroughly clean the cups and lids and send them to us by surface mail. It is best to accumulate a number of cups before sending them to us. This reduces the resources used in the shipping process. We will recycle the cups and lids and mail you the value of the postage in WholeSoy coupons. Please make sure to include your return address on your package.

Please mail your cups to:
WholeSoy & Co.
Attn: Recycling Program
353 Sacramento Street, Suite 1120
San Francisco, CA 94111

Are all of the WholeSoy products made with organic soybeans?

Yes! We purchase only certified organic soybeans. These beans are grown, handled and processed under strict organic standards. These quality standards contribute to both the health of our planet by reducing the use of herbicides, pesticides and genetically modified seeds in our environment and to our health by guaranteeing chemical-free, natural ingredients in our food.

Why do you use the soybean as the basis for all of your products?

The soybean is the most valuable source of protein and oil on our planet. It contains 40% protein and 20% oil. The United States produces over 55% of the world's production of soybeans, but uses less than 6% of them directly as food. Over 90% of the soybeans grown in the United States are pressed for soy oil and the protein is fed to animals.

It is inefficient to use soy as an indirect food source for humans. It takes sixteen pounds of vegetable protein to get one pound of beef protein, ten pounds of vegetable protein to get a pound of dairy protein and six pounds of vegetable protein to get a pound of egg protein. It simply makes more sense to convert soy protein directly into human food rather than going through the uneconomical and environmentally harmful process of animal protein production. In addition, the need for water to produce soy protein is one tenth that needed to produce beef or dairy protein.

Is it healthy to eat soybean products?

Many scientific studies validate the belief that it is healthy to eat soy products. On October 26, 1999, after extensive evaluation of scientific research on the health benefits of soy protein, the Food and Drug Administration of the United States published the final rule authorizing a health claim that reads: "25 grams of soy protein a day, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease." Products that contain at least 6.25 grams of soy protein per serving and are low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol will be eligible to carry the claim. One 8-ounce serving of WholeSoy Soy Yogurt provides 7 to 8 grams of soy protein.

Is there any casein, gluten or whey in any of the WholeSoy products?

No. All of our products are gluten, casein, and whey free.

Have your products been tested by an independent lab for casein, whey and gluten?

Yes. We regularly test our products for casein, whey and gluten (also egg and peanuts) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Food Allergy Research & Resource Program (FARRP).

What do I do if I suspect I or one of my children has an allergic reaction to one of your products?

Save the product in question and call or email our office. We will arrange to have the product sent, at our expense, to FARRP (see above) for testing. To date, there have been very few incidents where WholeSoy products were suspected of causing a reaction; in all cases the particular WholeSoy product was tested and found not to contain allergens.

What does Kosher Pareve mean?

We have Kosher Pareve certification by the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of San Francisco. The kosher certification insures that all the products, ingredients, and manufacturing processes that we use, from grinding the soybeans to the filling of the product, follow the standards of Jewish dietary laws. Pareve means that the product contains no animal or dairy ingredients. Our production facilities are regularly inspected by Rabbi Traub to ensure our products are produced in a clean and kosher manner and are completely separate from dairy products. This supervision is another way to insure that WholeSoy products are dairy free.

What is the dietetic exchange of WholeSoy?

The dietetic food exchange system groups foods together that are nutritionally alike. The 6 groups are starch/bread, meat and meat substitutes, vegetables, fruit, milk, and fat. Dietitians have also developed a group known as Combination Foods. This last group covers foods that may fall into more than one group.

The exchanges below are based on average values and may not be exact. When using these foods in a diabetic/dietetic meal plan, it is most important to check with your own doctor or to consult with a Registered Dietitian.

Product Exchange Lists
WholeSoy Soy Yogurt	1 Skim Milk & 1 Starch
WholeSoy Soy Smoothie	1 Lowfat Milk & 1 1/2 Starch
WholeSoy Soy Frozen Yogurt	1 1/2 Starch

What are the phosphorous and potassium values in WholeSoy Soy Yogurt?

The Phosphorous values for the 6-ounce container of WholeSoy Soy Yogurt are: Plain (0 mg), Vanilla (0 mg), Peach (.79 mg), Strawberry (5.89 mg), Raspberry (1.02 mg), Lemon (1.15 mg), Cherry (.94 mg), Blueberry (.79 mg).

The Potassium K values for the 6-ounce container of WholeSoy Soy Yogurt are: Plain (197.4 mg), Vanilla (197.4 mg), Peach (209.6 mg), Strawberry (208.1 mg), Raspberry (203.4 mg), Lemon (209.6 mg), Cherry (212.7 mg), and Blueberry (202.9 mg).