Plamil Foods Ltd is a British manufacturer of

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

food products. Founded in 1965, the company sells

soy milk Soy milk (simplified Chinese: 豆浆; traditional Chinese: 豆漿) also known as soya milk or soymilk, is a plant-based drink produced by soaking and grinding soybeans, boiling the mixture, and filtering out remaining particulates. It is a sta ...

horchata Horchata (; ), or (), is a name given to various beverages, which are generally plant-based, but sometimes contain animal milk. In Spain, it is made with soaked, ground, and sweetened tiger nuts. In Latin America and other parts of the Americas ...

, egg-free mayonnaise, chocolate and

carob The carob ( ; ''Ceratonia siliqua'') is a flowering evergreen tree or shrub in the Caesalpinioideae sub-family of the legume family, Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated for its edible fruit pods, and as an ornamental tree in gardens and landscap ...

bars. The company began life in 1956 as the Plantmilk Society, which was set up by Leslie Cross, vice-president of the British

Vegan Society Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

, to explore how to produce a commercial soy milk as an alternative to dairy for vegans and others. Plamil became the first company in the UK, and one of the first in the Western world, to make soy milk widely available.

Plant milk

Plant milk Plant milk is a plant beverage with a color resembling that of milk. Plant milks are non-dairy beverages made from a water-based plant extract for flavoring and aroma. Plant milks are consumed as alternatives to milk, and often provide a crea ...

s have been produced for hundreds of years, particularly in China. According to the Soyinfo Center,

almond milk Almond milk is a plant-based milk with a watery texture and nutty flavor manufactured from almonds, although some types or brands are flavored in imitation of cow's milk. It does not contain cholesterol or lactose and is low in saturated fat. ...

("Almaund mylke") was first mentioned in English in ''

The Forme of Cury ''The Forme of Cury'' (''The Method of Cooking'', from Middle French : 'to cook') is an extensive 14th-century collection of medieval English recipes. Although the original manuscript is lost, the text appears in nine manuscripts, the most fa ...

'' (c. 1390). There are early Western mentions of milk from the

soy bean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu a ...

in June 1896 in the ''American Journal of Pharmacy'' and July 1897 in the United States Department of Agriculture's ''Farmer's Bulletin''.

William Shurtleff William Roy Shurtleff (born April 28, 1941) also known as Bill Shurtleff is an American researcher and writer about soy foods. Shurtleff and his former wife Akiko Aoyagi have written and published consumer-oriented cookbooks, handbooks for small- ...

and Akiko Aoyagi, ''History of Soymilk and Other Non-Dairy Milks (1226–2013)'', Soyinfo Center, 2013, pp. 5–8. The first soy milk and

soy-based infant formula Soy formula is a substitute for human breast milk. It is a commercial product based on the proteins found in soybeans. Soy infant formula uses processed soybeans as its source of protein, and comes in powdered or liquid form. Usually lactose-free, s ...

in the West was developed in 1909 by John Ruhräh, an American paediatrician. Bottled soy milk was available commercially in China from the 1920s, and in 1931

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventism, Adventist Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the Names of the days of the week#Numbered days of the week, seventh day of the ...

s in Madison, Tennessee, began production of soy milk fortified with calcium. In 1940

Vitasoy Vitasoy () is a Hong Kong beverage company. It hosts a brand of beverages and desserts named ''Vita''. Founded in 1940, it now operates under the Vitasoy International Holdings Limited. Its headquarters are in Tuen Mun, New Territories, Hon ...

in Hong Kong began selling soy milk door to door. According to the Soyinfo Center, in the US the dairy industry put pressure on producers to call it something other than milk; one company used the term ''Soya Lac'' instead.

History

Plantmilk Society

Plamil Foods began life as the Plantmilk Society, which was founded in June 1956 by Leslie Cross (1914 – 2 December 1979), vice-president of the Vegan Society. The Vegan Society emerged in 1944 as a result of a split within the British

Vegetarian Society The Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom is a British registered charity which was established on 30 September 1847 to promote vegetarianism. History In the 19th century a number of groups in Britain actively promoted and followed meat ...

over whether vegetarians should consume

dairy product Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food items in th ...

s and eggs. Cross, who became a vegan in 1942, wrote regularly about the issue to the society's magazine, the ''Vegetarian Messenger'', arguing that dairy-milk production was cruel and exploitative. One of the early concerns of the Vegan Society was how to produce a commercial plant milk. In the spring of 1956, Cross placed an article in ''The Vegan'' proposing the creation of the Veganmilk Association. The aim would be to "produce and make available to the general public in Great Britain a milk, the ingredients of which would be of plant origin; which would satisfy nutritional requirements; and which would be palatable, attractive, and simple to use for the purposes for which dairy milk is now used." Members decided to call it the Plantmilk Society. The ''London Evening News'' carried a story about the new society, under the headline "Now your milk may come from a plant." C. Arthur Ling (1919–2005) became the chair, and Leslie Cross the treasurer and secretary. (As of 2015 one of C. Arthur Ling's sons, Adrian, is the managing director of Plamil Foods.)"C Arthur Ling, 1919–2005"
Plamil Foods. The first annual general meeting was held on 6 October 1956 at Friends' House in

Euston Road Euston Road is a road in Central London that runs from Marylebone Road to King's Cross. The route is part of the London Inner Ring Road and forms part of the London congestion charge zone boundary. It is named after Euston Hall, the family ...

, London."The Plantmilk Society,
''The Vegan''
10(3), Winter 1956, pp. 14–16.

Plantmilk Ltd

It took several years of research and an investment of £20,000 to produce the soy milk, which was fortified with calcium and vitamins B2,

B12 Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin involved in metabolism. It is one of eight B vitamins. It is required by animals, which use it as a cofactor in DNA synthesis, in both fatty acid and amino acid metabolism. It ...

and D2. In 1965 the society became a limited company, Plantmilk Ltd, with Cross as its first full-time employee, and began production of its milk, which it called Plamil, from a rented factory in

Iver Iver is a large civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. In addition to the central clustered village, the parish includes the residential neighbourhoods of Iver Heath and Richings Park. Geography, transport and economy Part of the 43-square- ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

. A group of 16 vegans later took out loans to buy the freehold of a factory in

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. In 1972 the company changed its name to Plamil Foods. During the 1970s, echoing the pressure brought by the American dairy industry in the 1930s, the company was not allowed in England to refer to its product as "soya milk," but had to call it "liquid food of plant origin," and thereafter "soya plantmilk."Harry Maher
"The Milk of Human Kindness"
interview with Arthur Ling, ''Vegan Views'', 37, Autumn 1986.

Products

Plamil products are suitable for vegans and are made by the company in its own factory. The company is a "free from" producer and is sought out by people with allergies, as well as by vegans."Free from ..."
Plamil Foods. Their organic chocolate products are registered with the

Soil Association The Soil Association is a British registered charity. The organisation activities include campaigning – against intensive farming, for local purchasing and public education on nutrition – and certification of organic foods. It was establis ...

. Their products were registered with the Vegan Society until 2009, but Plamil withdrew its support of the society's trademark after the latter agreed to certify products that might contain trace amounts of dairy milk, eggs or fish, as a result of contamination during manufacturing. Since then Plamil has used its own vegan logo, rather than the society's. The company sells organic unsweetened soy milk,

(

tigernut ''Cyperus esculentus'' (also called chufa, tiger nut, atadwe, yellow nutsedge, and earth almond) is a species of plant in the sedge family widespread across much of the world. It is found in most of the Eastern Hemisphere, including Southern Eur ...

milk), and egg-free mayonnaise in several flavours, including plain, lemongrass and tarragon. There is a range of

bars, chocolate products, organic chocolate spreads sweetened with orange oil or rice syrup, as well as Easter eggs and chocolate snowmen. Products are available online from the company's website,

Animal Aid Animal Aid is a British animal rights organisation, founded in 1977 by Jean Pink. The group campaigns peacefully against the consumption of animals as food and against animal cruelty such as their use for medical research—and promotes a cruel ...

and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

, and as of 2015 are sold by

Waitrose Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...

and

Holland & Barrett Holland & Barrett (H&B) is a multinational chain of health food shops with over 1,300 stores in 16 countries, including a substantial presence in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Mainland China, Hong Kong, India, ...

."Shopping"
an
"Stockists"
Plamil Foods.

Plant milk

History

Plantmilk Society

Plantmilk Ltd

Products

See also

References

Further reading