Probiotics

[KilljoyKlown]

Our store must carry at least 150 or more types and flavors of yogurt, from yogurt drinks to Greek, from 0% fat to some that have 9% fat. Over 95% of them contain gelatin, pectin or cornstarch to thicken and yes, I have read every label because it is allowed as part of my job. Yogurt is also one of the few forms of dairy that I enjoy regularly so it is a food of interest to me personally. (I will not buy any yogurt that has any of the previous three ingredients in them.) A majority of yogurts are sweetened or flavored and this greatly increases the calories and sugars in them, which makes them questionable as 'health food' by my criteria.

The better recourse is to buy plain yogurt and add your own fresh fruit, preserves, honey or maple syrup in controlled measure. I buy a plain Balkan Style Yogurt for this purpose, which also works nicely as a base for salad dressings, dips and to replace sour cream as a topping on potatoes and my one indulgence as flavored yogurts go is a Caramel one by the same company which is decadent with diced apple, chopped walnut and a little flax seed.

http://astro.ca/products/astro_original_balkan_style_flavoured_caramel_650g_family_tub

That looks good, However I don't think I've seen that brand in any of the stores I shop in. Costco & Safeway, there are a couple of other store I could try but I'd be going out of my way.

 

[scheherazade]

Hello there, KJ. It's entirely possible that the brand I like may not be available in the U.S. I just came across this 'rant' and I am very sorry to hear this news. Liberte Yogurt used to make an awesome Vanilla flavored product in the Greek Style and was another one that I would go out of my way to find and pay twice as much money for. Sadly, this is what corporations do. They seek out and buy up any of the small, successful independent operators and then change the formulation. :bugeye:

Warning - General Mills bought Liberté yogurt, it's now Yoplait crap for premium price!

I live a frugal life, I don't have a tricked out kitchen, travel to Europe or even eat out at expensive restaurants. But I am fortunate enough to be able to afford small pleasures in life such as ponying up $1.19 versus 99 cents for a container of premium Liberté Yogurt to enjoy as my go-to lunch on workdays.

Didn't think too much of it (should have!) when the Liberté yogurt at my local Whole Paycheck had gone up to $1.29 and had new cheapo packaging. It was still 6 oz, it was Friday and I was tired after a long day at work.

So today I grab a strawberry of the batch I bought on Friday and to my horror when I ripped open the container at lunch, I saw right way it had been reformulated and was no longer a product of Quebec, Canada but Denver, CO. One mouthful and I had an awful taste of pectin and CHERRY. Yes to add insult to injury, there wasn't even strawberries in my strawberry yogurt. I couldn't even finish the container, it was nasty, nasty stuff.

A quick google confirmed my worst fears, General Mills bought out the Canadian manufacturer in the hopes of propping up their failing yoplait brand and is now manufacturing my beloved Liberté at their US yoplait plant.

Granted a company can do whatever the heck they want to but geez, did General Mills really think we're such morons as to be taken in by a venerable brand name now hiding cheapo yogurt? I cannot fathom why they felt this would be profitable move. Did they learn nothing from the New Coke Debacle?

Forgive me this rant, I know that there's far more serious issues in the world but we as consumers need to take a stand on crap maneuvers like this.

In the US, the brand at the following link seems to be very popular. I would look for it if I resided there.

http://chobani.com/products/non-fat-vanilla/32oz