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You Won’t Believe What’s In Your Yogurt – And It’s Not On The Label!

The food industry has a reputation of taking incredibly healthy items and turning them into processed junk food and this is exactly what has happened to most yogurts available on the market. The Cornucopia Institute just came out with a very revealing report (an investigation that took 2 years!) about what’s in yogurt, and how giant food corporations, led by General Mills (Yoplait), Groupe Danone (Dannon), Walmart, and PepsiCo are saturating the market with less nutritious yogurt. Conventional yogurt usually comes from milk produced by cows that are confined and unable to graze in open pasture. They’re usually fed GMO grains, not grass. As the yogurt ferments, chemical defoamers are sometimes added. Then high doses of artificial sweeteners, sugar, or high fructose corn syrup are sometimes added too. That’s not all: colors, preservatives, and gut-harmful carrageenan can be dumped in. These practices alarm me, since yogurt has been such a healthy, longevity-promoting food for ages. 

yogurtingredients

While all of these practices and controversial additives have completely ruined yogurt, what I found most disturbing in the report are the eye-opening claims about what might be in yogurt that isn’t as obvious – and may not even be on the label. Cornucopia was shocked by their own findings and filed a formal complaint with the FDA, asking them to investigate some yogurts on the market because they don’t appear to even meet the legal definition of yogurt!

Surprising Things That Can Be In Yogurt:

HFCS-90 – This variation of high fructose corn syrup contains way more fructose than regular high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). When HFCS-90 is used, the ingredient label won’t indicate that high fructose corn syrup is an ingredient, rather it can be deceptively listed as simply “fructose” or “fructose syrup” without any reference to corn syrup. Regular HFCS contains up to 55% fructose, whereas HFCS-90 has 90% fructose by weight. That’s 9 times more fructose than the average fruit! An overload of fructose in the diet isn’t healthy because diets that are high in fructose are associated with obesity and cardiovascular disease. HFCS-90 is derived from corn starch, which is likely GMO. It’s totally misleading when companies say that fructose is natural and comes from fruit, when it’s a processed additive typically derived from GMO corn. 

Neosugar – This is a highly processed form of sugar made by hydrolyzing liquid GMO sugar beets or sugar cane. It’s so heavily processed that your body can’t digest it and it just passes through you like a fiber. It’s also marketed as a prebiotic, but there isn’t much evidence out there that neosugar is more beneficial than real food and it appears to just be a marketing ploy. Natural prebiotics are found naturally in raw fruits and vegetables. According to Dr. Michael Blaut, “It is questionable whether a wholesome diet rich in fruit and vegetables needs to be supplemented with prebiotics for optimal health effects”. Some names used by industry for neosugar are “Nutraflora” and “Fructan”, which is how you may see it listed on the ingredient label. Beware that neosugar is allowed in organic yogurt. Thankfully, the only organic company that is currently known to use neosugar is Horizon, so it’s pretty easy to avoid. 

Dimethylpolysiloxane – You’ve heard me refer to this chemical in the past as the silly putty ingredient that’s widely used as a defoamer in oil fryers at restaurants, and famously used in McDonalds french fries and soda fountains. Turns out that it can also be used during the processing of yogurt – and it’s not labeled, even if residues remain in the final product. One of the biggest issues I’ve got with dimethylpolysiloxane is that the FDA allows it to be preserved with formaldehyde, one of the most highly toxic substances on earth. As Cornucopia highlights in their report, most of the safety studies that have been done on dimethylpolysiloxane were conducted or paid for by the chemical companies, and not enough independent research has been done. Every yogurt company I called – Dannon, Chobani, Zoi, Greek Gods – emphatically denied that they use any anti-foaming chemicals, except for one. Yoplait (General Mills) told us it was proprietary information and “We’re sorry, but we don’t share processing information”

Nanoparticles – There’s a big controversy surrounding the results of a 2012 study that found titanium dioxide in Dannon yogurt. In May, Mother Jones reported that Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt contained the nanoparticle titanium dioxide, but have since retracted this from their article following Dannon’s claims that, “We don’t use any ingredients in Dannon plain yogurt that contain titanium dioxide. In the event we use an added color in our products we label it as an added ingredient”. I also contacted Dannon, and they confirmed this information. However, microscopic particles of titanium dioxide (nanoparticles) can be used as an artificial color to make white foods whiter and brighter. According to Friends of the Earth, there’s been “a tenfold increase in unregulated, unlabeled “nanofood” products on the American market since 2008… made by major companies including Kraft, General Mills, Hershey, Nestle, Mars, Unilever, Smucker’s and Albertsons. But due to a lack of labeling and disclosure, a far greater number of food products with undisclosed nanomaterials are likely currently on the market”. This concerns me because nanoparticles have been shown to carry risks to human health and the environment, and nanoparticles of titanium dioxide are specifically linked to gastrointestinal inflammation

Synthetic PesticidesYogurts that contain fruit likely contain synthetic pesticide residues unless they are organic. Berries are the most popular fruits found in yogurts, and they’re also on the EWG’s Dirty Dozen List of the most contaminated produce. The pectin that is added to some yogurts may also contain another dose of pesticides, as it’s made from conventional fruit. The National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the President’s Cancer Panel all warn about the health dangers of consuming pesticides found on conventional produce.

Worst Yogurt Choices

What’s Missing From Many Popular Yogurts?

Probiotics – The “Live and Active Cultures” seal on a container of yogurt does not guarantee that any probiotics are actually in the yogurt by the time you eat it – it only verifies they were there when it was manufactured. The addition of artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose may compound this problem because they’ve been shown to be antimicrobials that also have the ability to kill beneficial bacteria in the gut, which warrants more research. (sources: 1, 2). Cornucopia sent yogurt samples to the University of Nebraska Lincoln’s Food Processing Center to test for probiotic content, and what they found was astonishing. Several yogurts were found to have less than the required 100 million cultures per gram including Chobani, Walmart Great Value, Yoplait Go-Gurt, LaLa Cult, and Dannon Danimals Smoothies. 

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Fruit – I know it’s ridiculous, but some fruit-flavored yogurts on the shelves don’t contain any fruit, and are solely flavored with artificial and natural flavors. Yoplait calls one of their flavors “Strawberry Banana Burst GoGurt” but it doesn’t have any strawberries or bananas in it. You also won’t find any fruit in Greek God’s Honey & Strawberry Yogurt, and yogurts targeting children like Dannon Danimals Strawberry Slide Greek Yogurt. The natural and artificial flavors that are used to mimic the taste of fruit are designed to keep you coming back to eat more. As explained by flavor manufacturer Nature’s Flavors, “The trick to making a product taste good is to give the customer only enough flavor to tease their taste buds. You never want to completely satisfy their tastes”. Do you really want to be eating fake flavors that were manufactured to keep you unsatisfied and wanting more, or would you rather just eat real fruit and all the nutrients that come with it? 

Beneficial Fat – Cornucopia commissioned the University of Nebraska’s lab to study the nutritional profile of several yogurts, specifically for the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids and the levels of beneficial fats such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). They found that organic yogurt contained better fat ratios and way more CLA than conventional yogurt. Chobani yogurt came out the worst, compared with Cedar Summit Farm’s organic yogurt coming out on top with nearly 20 times more CLA than Chobani. 

Always Choose Organic Yogurt.

Last month I broke down for you all the big reasons to only choose organic dairy products, including yogurt, which is corroborated in Cornucopia’s report. When you choose organic, you avoid:

  1. Genetically Modified Ingredients (GMO) – Most sweeteners in yogurt come from GMOs. Whenever you see high fructose corn syrup, fructose, or sugar on the ingredient list it’s a pretty safe bet that it’s derived from GMO corn or GMO beet sugar.
  2. Growth Hormone Drugs – Banned in over 30 countries, linked to cancer, and may increase the incidence of painful mastitis in cows (requiring antibiotics). 
  3. Herbicides & Pesticides – Residues from chemical herbicides and pesticides end up in our food and water, and also contaminate the food of dairy cows. It’s possible that these chemicals are passing through to their milk, which have been linked to kidney disease and other diseases in humans.

How To Choose The Best Yogurt:

The only kind of yogurt I recommend is plain organic yogurt (greek or regular), which you can sweeten yourself with fresh fruit, raw honey or maple syrup. Cornucopia built a great reference, a Yogurt Buyer’s Guide, which rates 114 yogurt brands from best to worst based on these criteria:

  • Organic vs. Conventional
  • Thickeners and Stabilizers
  • Carrageenan 
  • Artificial Sweeteners
  • Added sugar 
  • Artificial coloring 
  • Flavors 
  • Synthetic nutrients 
  • Milk Protein Concentrate 
  • Preservatives

Plain Organic Yogurt

They ultimately recommend minimally processed organic brands that are either sometimes grass-fed or 100% grass-fed. These include: Traders Point Creamery, Maple Hill Creamery, Nancy’s, Organic Valley, Kalona, Wallaby Organic, and Clover Stornetta, Stonyfield, and regional brands such as Butterworks Farm, Seven Stars, Straus, Hawthorne Valley Farm, and Cedar Summit. By doing so, we support organic farmers, protect our environment, encourage humane treatment of animals, and ensure good health for ourselves and our families. 

Cornucopia also conducted a cost analysis and found that many of the organic yogurts that they recommend are cheaper (per ounce) than conventional over-processed yogurts (including yogurts that are marketed for children) – Yeah! You can read Cornucopia’s complete report, “Culture Wars: How the Food Giants Turned Yogurt, a Health Food, into Junk Food” here. 

Because I know many of you might ask, my personal favorite is Traders Point Creamery (found at Whole Foods & Healthy Home Market), I love that it comes in a glass jar and not plastic and is made from cows fed a 100% organic grass-fed diet. 

You can also, of course, make your own yogurt, which my mother has been doing since I can remember! She still makes it for me so I don’t have to buy it that often. I would start with the best ingredients of course – grass-fed organic (and raw – if you can find it) milk would be ideal. Here’s her recipe:

My Mom's Homemade Yogurt
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 4 cups grass-fed organic milk
  • 3 tablespoons plain organic yogurt (purchased or homemade)* or powdered yogurt starter (amount specified on package)**
Instructions
  1. Place milk in pot on stove, heat and until milk starts to bubble (medium high heat)
  2. Stir consistently to prevent skin from forming
  3. Cool milk until it is luke warm - about 110-115 degrees
  4. Add organic yogurt or yogurt culture to the milk
  5. Pour mixture into small glass jars or one large glass container
  6. Place lid on containers, put a towel over them and store in a draft free place at room temperature
  7. Yogurt should be complete in about 6-8 hours
  8. Place yogurt in fridge for at least 2 hours before serving
  9. Store yogurt in fridge for up to 1 week
Notes
***Please choose all organic ingredients if possible***

 

Please share this information with your friends and family – it’s absolutely critical we know what’s in our yogurt and stop supporting the junk versions of this very otherwise healthy food!

Xo,

Vani 

P.S. If you like investigations like this, you will love my new upcoming book The Food Babe Way. It’s available right now for pre-order at a special extra 30% off on Amazon with code “HOLIDAY30” (all uppercase). This will likely be the lowest price ever available so get it now! Offer is only good until Midnight tonight 12/1! (Please note – this coupon code is only good for one hardcover book per account).

 

 

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250 responses to “You Won’t Believe What’s In Your Yogurt – And It’s Not On The Label!

      1. Great article, but you left out something very important. Added sugar is often refined/ using bone char… ground up bones from animals. I believe this is because it is more cost efficient; there are other ways to do this. Since added sugar is in most yogurts, we are eating this garbage. Not only are we adding to the cruelty of animals, we are earing whatever the animals were exposed to. Pretty disgusting !!!

  1. Of the brands singled out for Meidung* I only recognized the Danone brand and the Activia yoghurt. I don’t do desserts but now I have to get at least one Activia in my hilaritivism (activism through hilarious and absurd actions) against pseudo-science. A week ago I had a Starbucks coffee (Christmas blend, which contained no actual Christmas) for that reason. I only go there once a year but now I had to go extra. 8 miles of walking through wind and rain but it was worth it (disclaimer: I’m a shill for Big Serotonin, it’s where my pay comes from; I love walking, 15 miles is like a walk around the block for me, although you will mostly find me in the woods and fields).
    I’m in my late 40s, very healthy, eat everything from fresh to the highest level of processed, so I’ll go on with consuming what is being labelled ‘VERBOTEN!’** on this site.

    * Meidung, German for shunning, is what the Amish do if you don’t follow their religion anymore
    ** German for ‘forbidden’. What can I say, I love the German language.

    1. I bought the Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee from my online shopper and was so disappointed when it came as French Roast. There was nothing Christmas about this and how can they get away with it saying that? The only Christmas was that it had a little Christmas design on the package. What deception!!!

      1. I don’t understand what is wrong with Starbucks French Roast coffee? I drink it all the time. Is there something that I should know about?

    2. I thought I was healthy too…until I wasn’t. You can do what you wish, but it will all affect you eventually. I appreciate the information so that I can make an educated choice. Thanks Vani!

    3. Wow …. Could be some are so freaked about the truth in our food they joke like a nervous switch. You really can only measure health as your day gets shorter and your body moves slower. Than you well know if you took care or not and used wisdom.

    1. Read the ingredient list. If you are willing to eat sugar and honey then learn about how sugars trigger the release of inflammatory messengers called cytokines. I love the taste of Brown Cow yogurt, but it may be loaded with honey or sugar. Brown Cow makes many yogurt products so some may be better than others, but just because it’s organic does not make it healthy. Always read the label, and if it’s sweet question why.

      1. I love Brown Cow vanilla yogurt… you can dtill read the labrl snd choose not to eat it if you are not pleased with the sweetener… but gor you to snub your noses at them because they use sugar…is, well obsurd. Pffft

  2. I hardly ever buy flavored yogurts and prefer organic plain whole milk yogurt. I love Strauss and so glad my Coop carries this brand. I will try the recipe.

  3. Thanks for this post! We are an all natural family, with twin three year olds. I am struggling with knowing too much information about food and not giving my kids a food complex. I treat them with Organic candy canes and gelato. I’ve made all of their birthday cakes. We make paleo chocolate chip cookies, decorate christmas cookies (all natural food dyes), they are not missing out! However, my struggle is when we leave our house…. birthday parties, christmas parties, etc. I don’t want to offend the host! My kids have pointed to a cake and said it was a “danger cake,” and sometimes they want to eat the “danger cake.”

    What would Vani do?

    Thanks! A concerned natural mama ~Sara

    1. Hi Sara,
      You sound like my older sister- she too has twins and 4 boys total, all under 7 yrs of age. She struggles just like you with birthday parties school snacks etc. She used to feel bad and was afraid that people would think she is snotty- and some people do. But she has come a long way in quitting the people pleasing thing, and has politely told other parents and teachers that her children do not eat processed or un-organic food. She’s even turned quite a few moms to the clean side of eating for their families! Her oldest boys struggled a little with it when they began school, but she has educated them through documentaries etc. and now they love eating healthy to make them “big and strong”. If you’d like, I can give you her email address and maybe you two can get advice and support from each other.
      Xo
      Hannah

    1. Our Natures Grocers used to sell Noosa. They stopped because the milk wasn’t from grass fed cows.

      1. Wow I’d love to find yogurt made from grass fed cows. Can you tell me a brand to look for?

      2. I am sorry that I jump in this conversation and you will probably consider me biased but it’s up to you guys – try Trimona Bulgarian yogurt if available in your area. I happen to be the maker of this yogurt. I am talking only about the taste which is tangy. It’s the health benefits that matters.

  4. I don’t see a print option. I have no time to read online so I print out blogs to read while we are on trips. I did pre-order your book on amazon but want to start learning now.

  5. Been buying Berle Farm Organic yogurt. It’s delicious and comes in glass jar. Unfortunately, the top is plastic, but yogurt is really yummy!

    1. And I forgot to ask about the vegetable yogurt – Blue Hill Yogurt? My 14 month old loves it.

    2. I agree – I would love to know about Siggi’s too. They market tubes to kids that I buy for my children. I read the label it looks great, but wanted to know the thoughts of other consumers.

  6. I have a yoghurt that I can’t stop eating! It’s called Noosa. It’s a company based out of Colorado. Their recipe is an “Aussie” yoghurt recipe. It’s not organic, and it doesn’t say that it’s from grass fed cows milk. So, I’ve been looking everywhere for a recipe so I can make some at home, but there is not one single recipe I have found. Any ideas? Thanks!

    1. I think I would try using your favorite yogurt as a starter, because the live cultures contained in it should produce a similar flavor in homemade yogurt! Just check with some of the various “how to culture yogurt at home” websites and choose a method that appeals to you.

  7. Homemade milk kefir is a way better replacement.
    50 X the probiotics of yogurt, make from milk which is more inexpensive than buy yogurt and not all that plastic packaging.

  8. You’ve probably already answered this somewhere else.. But those of us who don’t do dairy- what are your suggestions? Most of the coconut milk yogurt I’ve seen has caragenean in it. Or other ingredients I’m not too sure about, even though they’re labeled “organic”. Thanks! 🙂

  9. Your recipe is the same I use. I usually will put all of it in a big glass bowl with a lid, wrap it in a few dish towels and set in the microwave or oven. Don’t turn on. This will keep it warmer and will culture faster. Thanks for the info!

  10. I have tried Maple Hill Creamery yogurt. My son, now 2, and I love it. We find it at our local Kroger.

  11. My daughter is autistic and I have been buying coconut yogurt for her from trader joe’s, vanilla and blueberry flavored. Is that safe?

    1. I also do coconut yogurt brand So Delicious Greek Yougurt with no carrageenan. They also make a yogurt with that ingredient so you have to read the labels.

    2. No, no, no! Please read http://www.unblindmymind.org and get glutamates out if your daughter’s diet! Watch the videos of before and after for Dr Katie Reid’s daughter who had symptoms that disappeared when flavorings etc, etc were eliminated.

  12. Today I tried making the yogurt recipe listed above (Vani’s mother’s recipe). Followed the recipe to a T, but am left with several glass jars of milk–very liquidy, not yogurty at all. What went wrong? I used Maple Hill Creamery as my yogurt starter. Any thoughts? Do I risk using it with my cereal tomorrow?

    1. You may be accustomed to eating yoghurt with a higher fat content, lower water content, or added thickeners. Home-made yoghurts are typically thinner (less viscous) than most commercially available varieties in North America.

    2. It is good to use a very clean cooking thermometer to check temperatures, especially as you first start culturing your own yogurt, to make sure it’s not too hot or too cool. The live cultures will grow best between 100-110 degrees F, and I believe anything over 115 degrees will kill the live culture. If it is allowed to cool below 100 degrees, the culturing might not happen at all, or might happen very, very slowly.

      In my kitchen, the jars will not stay warm enough to properly culture the yogurt by just covering the jars with a towel. Some of my friends use a heating pad around the jars, then wrap with a thick bath towel. Others, with a gas stove, can culture their yogurt just with the warmth of their oven’s pilot light. Commercial “yogurt makers” are quite convenient because you can set them up to culture overnight, with no monitoring necessary. My mother used to put her prepared jars of milk culture into a picnic “cooler,” with jars of very hot water also inside the cooler, to keep the “cooler” temperature nice and warm for cultures to grow, and she would replace the very hot water after a few hours, as it cooled.

      Also, for better results, it is helpful to allow the live culture starter yogurt to warm to room temperature or up to 100 degrees, before stirring it into the prepared milk. If the yogurt successfully cultures but seems too thin, you can use a very fine strainer to drain out extra liquid. You can also allow it to sit overnight in the refrigerator in a very fine strainer or cheesecloth, to make your own spreadable “yogurt cheese,” as a cream cheese substitute.

    3. I know your post is old, however, I attempted to make the yogurt too & mine came out very liquidly as well. Kind of reminds me of Kefir. I just used it as the liquid base for my smoothie. I wanted to know if I could use it as the milk base for another batch.

  13. Wow! When my daughter was little I used to buy GoGurt for her all the time thinking she was eating a healthy snack. I eat (or should I say did eat) Dannon Light & Fit Greek Nonfat Yoghourt. Blueberry was my favorite flavor. Going to have to start looking for a store that carries healthier foods than the “Giant Food” I have been shopping in for years.

  14. Who needs yogurt when you can make kefir by fermenting milk? Thank you Vani for shining the light on what has been done to our food.

  15. I have been frustrated not only by the ingredients but the change of taste of store yogurt from being tart to way too sweet. Also, I prefer higher milk fat items than low milk fat with thickeners. I purchased a yogurt maker about 5 years ago and have been making my own yogurt ever since. My daughter doesn’t know anything but my yogurt and loves it with some of my mom’s homemade jam and granola. It is a sad state when even “healthy” food items in stores are crammed full of junk. Thank you for bringing this issue to light and fighting for healthier food for customers!

  16. L.Bulgaricus
    S. Thermophilus
    L. Acidophilus
    Bifidus
    L. Caseli
    What is this stuff.
    I found it on Fage yogurt ingredients.
    Would this be safe to eat?

    1. Those are the strains of probiotics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probiotic). That is the good stuff you are trying to get into your body from eating yogurt. The “L” is short hand for Lactobacillus, and the “S” is short for Streptococcus (the good kind, not the kissing disease kind…)

  17. We make Noosa with milk from Morning Fresh Dairy, right on site at their farm in Bellvue, Colorado. Family-owned and operated since 1894, Morning Fresh is locally renowned for the sweet, rich, all natural milk their happy cows produce. Why are their cows so happy? All of them graze on open pasture at least 90 days per year, and the rest of the time, dine on home-grown grain, silage and alfalfa to ensure the highest quality feed without the use of harmful pesticides. Morning Fresh milk is free of artificial growth hormones (rBGH) and artificial preservatives.

    FARM FRESH: A day on the dairy from the web site best I ever ate is the coconut

  18. I find the parenting issues tough. Here’s what I think in retrospect: No matter what you do, the golden arches will call to Kindergarteners. The more you outlaw something, the harder the pushback when your tiny toddlers become rebellious teenagers. I went from making homemade organic, high-protein buckwheat pancakes in the morning (w/ flaxseed oil hidden in the organic, local maple syrup) to chasing my 16 yr old with a ‘Smores Pop Tart and Sunny D, pleading, “One bite for Mommy!”
    But while you still rule their universe – I called all the non-Food Babe food “silly food” and we went to the store and bought it for holidays. That way I wasn’t banning Captain Crunch – he was just expected 5-10 mornings a year. My kids bought into this system and looked forward to silly food until middle school. Then they completely banned my ideas/organic non-GMO practices completely. Now they’re young adults – and I see them coming back to what they were raised with – on their own accord. Good luck to all us parents – those kids are a tough food crowd!

    1. I never went to MacD’s with my 3 kids when they were little, it just wasn’t even on our radar. I told my kids that most of those places sold ‘poop on a plate’. I did ban foods, because I said they weren’t foods, it was like eating the paper bag along with the fries, no difference. Flash forward 16 years later, 3 kids (16-19-22) and most of what I have preached (and preached and preached) has stuck. You’re right..they might rebel a bit during those teen years (they sort of are rethinking everything at that age), but once they hit young adulthood, they know it’s about their health and life. Yes, question me and my methods, but also question business and those around you. Kids learn to be mindful about things when you teach them.

  19. What about Chobani? I can pick up 2 separate chobani brand yogurts and will see 2 different sets of ingredients. Y is this? I heard cjobani is a good brand. My 6 yr old son has ADHD and an yet to be labeled learning disorder. We stay away from dyes and fake food and eat high protein, good fats, good sugars. Would chobani be Ok to give him. I have opted out of yogurts BC of all the nasty stuff in them. We do pro/pre biotic supplents. But he loves yogurt and I don’t want to keep a potentially healthy food that he likes, from him.

    1. If you make your own, and add your own flavorings, you can then know what is in it.
      I raised a ADHD child and limited all artificial colorings, sweeteners and flavorings with great success. I always knew when he ate something at school or a friends. You can’t but them in a bubble, but you can do your best to give them real food. The best thing I did was get a dehydrator so I could make all my own yogurt, fruit snacks, chips, etc.

  20. Love your work..but I’m in Australia and we don’t get the some products as you do…Is there an Aussie Food Babe ? We have some pretty dodgy products with hidden yucky ingredients too xxx

    1. Kerrie…why don’t you start it? Start your own info blog..keep spreading the word, more info is more power!

  21. White Mountain is another Stellar brand of plain (Bulgarian yogurt.) It tastes exactly like the stuff I used to eat as a child in South Africa. Company is based in Texas. Sold at Jimbos and Whole Foods.

  22. These companies are killing us with all this junk they put in our food and hide it. I have an allergy to MSG. I have been close to death several times from consuming this. Last time I ate a Chick-filet sandwich I was in the food court of a local mall and they had to call 911. my Blood Pressure had dropped to 29 on the bottom. I was close to going into shock. I had to stay in the hospital several days. I found out afterwards that MSG is the second ingredient in Chic-filet sandwiches. Needless to say I have not eaten any of their food since. I have to stay away from packaged food. But I have learned in my research that they spray the food with chemicals when it is growing in the fields. No wonder so many people are dying from cancer. These big companies care about only the money, not the people that are consuming it. I wrote Campbell Soup company about MSG being in all their soups and products, but of course, it didn’t do any good. Nelda

  23. Any info on Noosa yogurt ? I’m not sure if it’s only made here in Colorado. It’s local so seems like a safe bet. I was wondering if you’ve heard of it. Cheers!

    1. Noosa is made in Bellvue, Colorado–nowhere else as of right now. It’s still a pretty small, family-run operation using milk from cows from a local dairy. From their website: “We make Noosa with milk from Morning Fresh Dairy, right on site at their farm in Bellvue, Colorado. Family-owned and operated since 1894, Morning Fresh is locally renowned for the sweet, rich, all natural milk their happy cows produce. Why are their cows so happy? All of them graze on open pasture at least 90 days per year, and the rest of the time, dine on home-grown grain, silage and alfalfa to ensure the highest quality feed without the use of harmful pesticides. Morning Fresh milk is free of artificial growth hormones (rBGH) and artificial preservatives.”

  24. It is so depressing to see that something as benign as yogurt has so many ugly chemicals. I make my own. Yogurt makers are under 15 bucks on amazon and make really good yogurt too. It is hard to go wrong with homemade unless you live in a cool climate and it is difficult for the yogurt to set.

  25. so glad finally somebody took time to investigate and to divulge the ingredients about yoghurt. any wonder why we become sick ?

  26. I wish you had mentioned non-dairy yogurts, such as coconut and almond yogurts. Even in organic dairies, there is great suffering and extreme hardships on the animals… and male babies are taken away and die.

  27. Are the Siggi’s yogurts considered a “good ” yogurt? Saw it asked but never saw a reply. Thanks

  28. I have celiac disease and am very careful with everything I eat. Are there gluten-free organic yogurts?

      1. The flavorings and sweeteners used in some commercially available yogurt aren’t always gluten-free. In addition, even plain yogurt you buy in stores can be subject to gluten cross-contamination that makes it unsafe for those of us with celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity. I was just hoping you knew if there were organic yogurts that were also gluten-free.

    1. Julie, we had two women with Celiac disease contacting us last week, one of them in advanced stage. She has been eating our Trimona Bulgarian yogurt for two years without experience any discomfort and enjoying all of its health benefits. She said her joints would swell up if she eats yogurt containing gluten. I am the maker of Trimona and believe me, I am not wasting your time trying to sell our product.

  29. Hello everyone,

    Dairy as a category has been often generalized. We always have to make sure if milk was properly sourced because not all dairy products are created equal. Speaking of yogurt here are the requirements that will give us the full gamut of health benefits: Organic whole milk from grass-fed cows, sheep, goat or buffalo. The tangy and tart taste guarantees low lactose (naturally occurring milk sugar) and better calcium absorption. Lactose intolerant consumers are totally fine with that kind of yogurt because the enzyme lactase (which they lack) is being produced during fermentation of milk. The yogurt has to be gluten free, and not strained unlike the Greek type yogurts (whey has been discarded). The whey is the watery part, which we often dump in the sink. It’s good to keep it in because that’s where the minerals reside such as Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, Selenium, etc. Whole milk or full fat (let’s not forget – only organic and grass-fed) carries the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K2. By choosing a low-fat or non-fat yogurt you miss out on those vitamins. Cows that graze on pasture make milk with the ideal ratio of Omega3 and Omega6 and contain the anti-cancer agent CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). And last but not least – have you heard about A1 and A2 cows? Google it and you will find out another reason why people are allergic to this generalized food category called “dairy”.
    I am Atanas Valev, and I make yogurt in the Catskill Mountains of New York called Trimona Bulgarian yogurt – 6th place out of 116 in Cornucopia scorecard: http://cornucopia.org/yogurt-scorecard/. I hope this information can help you make a better choice for your health. Cheers!

  30. Great article to bring awareness to what big food factories label and promote as “healthy,” but I was a little disappointed to not see any information about what, if anything, is added to low-fat and no-fat yogurts to keep up the consistency– even in organic yogurts.

  31. What do you think of organic cane sugar and milk protein concentrate and nautral vanilla flavour in organic yogurt?

  32. I have been looking for a yogurt recipe that didn’t need any special equipment. Super glad to come across this one! Tried it & a lil disappointed because I have “yogurt milk.” Could I use this “yogurt milk” & attempt this again? If not, I’ll use it for my smoothies & I’ll attempt the process again.

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