Israeli start-up Yofix Probiotics – winner of the €100,000 PepsiCo European Nutrition Greenhouse Programme 2018 announced last week – is launching its first dairy-free, soy-free yogurt alternative, with three fruit flavour variants.
The products are based on an original ‘clean-label’ formula made from just a few natural ingredients. It is traditionally fermented and contains live probiotic cultures plus the prebiotic fibres that feed them.
The new Yofix Only line is environment friendly and vegan, and leaves a low carbon footprint since there is no use of cow milk and, unlike almond or cashew, does not require large amounts of processing water. The production process has also been designed to ensure zero waste. All raw materials utilized in production remain in the final product, the company says.
Behind Yofix is Ronen Lavee, an agricultural mechanical engineer with lactose intolerance. Lavee returned to Israel after eight years in Asia, and could not find a dairy-free yogurt alternative with good flavour and texture.
He experimented with more than 100 fermented formulas based on natural ingredients until he found the “Bio 5 formula.” It uses no added sugars, preservatives, or colours. Yet has the texture and great flavor of yogurt.
“Yofix will be launched globally,” says Steve Grun, CEO of Yofix. “And, we will be developing new plant-based dairy substitutes for milk, yogurt drinks, cream cheese, coffee creamers and even ice cream. Our proprietary manufacturing technology and formulations are highly flexible and require minimum investment for versatility.”
The company launched the plant-based yogurt line with Strauss Dairies in Israel last month. The start-up was the first company to join The Kitchen, the leading food-tech incubator and seed investor in Israel, and part of the Strauss Group Ltd, the main investor in Yofix.