Mass Manufactured Yogurt Ingredients

[Cheese Head]

This is the other reason I want to make my own yogurt, cut out all the unnecessary ingredients.

Attached photos of standard flavoured yogurt here in Texas from our fridge for cereal etc, my understanding is that ingredients list is only by US law for items that are bigger than a certain small %, anything very small, like chemical additives etc doesn't have to be listed.

[wharris]

Mmmmmm..... Tricalcium Phosphate,    my favorite.  I always keep can of that handy, next to the riboflavin, in my cupboard.
 

[Tea]

Yep the reason that I first started making thing myself.

[Cheese Head]

While waiting for mail order yogurt making cultures, my wife just picked me up the plain yogurt below to act as a starter, way different ingredients than the lite fruit flavoured one above .

Even still, the claim that it meets the US National Yogurt Association's Criteria for Live & Active Cultures doesn't inspire confidence. Anyone know the difference between Live & Active cultures?

[saycheese]

Yes, this is why I make my own yogurt and bread.  I know what's in them -- and it's not high fructose corn syrup and soy lecithin.

[stuartjc]

Even still, the claim that it meets the US National Yogurt Association's Criteria for Live & Active Cultures doesn't inspire confidence. Anyone know the difference between Live & Active cultures?

Heh. It "meets" them in the same way that men "meet" "ladies of negotiable affection" 

[DeejayDebi]

I've used Dannon quite offen it's the only one here that lists live cultures besides WalMart brand on the label. AFter the first batch just use some of the last batch you made and your good forever. Unless you eat it all.

[MrsKK]

I don't know if this applies or not, but I was recently told that the culture used in Dannon's Activia and other yogurts that are supposed to be eaten every day to "regulate" one's system are not colony-forming cultures.  They will leave your system after 21 days.

Lactobacillus acidophilis is one that forms colonies, therefore keeps you healthy for a longer period of time.

I did find a web page that is supposed to be Q&A's for the National Yogurt Association.  They never really define if there is a difference between "live" and "active".  Here's the link:  http://dwb.unl.edu/Teacher/NSF/C11/C11Links/www.yaourt.org/pressconf_rep.html

Here's another web that promotes "live and active cultures" but doesn't make a distinction between the two terms:  http://aboutyogurt.com/index.asp?bid=28#Q3

[Colaly]

To by honest, I had thought that live and active were the same thing when it came to yogurt cultures? I think what MrsKK is talking about is probiotic cultures which will live in the digestive tract and improve your health. Some of these cultures will help with lactose digestion too, if you have trouble consuming a lot of dairy products. Probiotics are really popular in Europe, when I was living there a couple years ago they were putting them into all kinds of other products too (like cereal and bread).

I have made yogurt using Nancy's Yogurt as a starter, http://www.nancysyogurt.com/ But I don't know if this is available outside of Oregon. They use a really healthy blend of probiotic cultures. If you have get them you should try it!  Another good brand is Brown Cow http://www.browncowfarm.com, which is a little less sour of a flavor. If you go to a natural food store you should be able to get a good quality natural yogurt, buy a small cup and reproduce it in quantity at home!

[MrsKK]

Yeah, I think Colaly is right.  I think the "live and active" is just an ad man's phrase to inspire more sales.

In reality, all "live and active" yogurt cultures are probiotics.  If you look at a container of probiotic capsules, they contain many of the same cultures as are contained in yogurt.  I've really only read the probiotics labels for animal use (DON'T try to use these for humans, please, as they can make people pretty sick), but they contain some common ingredients.

The reason they help with lactose digestion is because they form the enzyme lactase, which is lacking in the systems of most adult humans.  Lactase digests lactose.  If it doesn't get digested properly it can cause problems.

I've solved that issue for myself by drinking raw milk from my healthy cow.

[Jonncarlo]

This is one of my favorite yogurt brands. It's very tasty and healthy. Furthermore, my friend is now going to taste too this yogurt.

[DeejayDebi]

Activia will not make yogurt. I got some on sale once to find out what the hype was and it didn't work but regular Dannon works well for me. I did recently try the yogurt culture from Dairy Connections and it worked really well with the whole raw 5% fat milk I get which is often a problem for me coming out watery if I don't skim some of the cream.

[berrys66]

Onken biopot yogurt makes a good starter and doesn't have any additives.