Same Name Different Product – KEFIR
At Nourish Kefir it has been a challenging 18 months, since the mass produced ‘kefirs’ appeared in the supermarkets, and being sold at discounted prices.
To most consumers all kefir drinks look the same. It is understandable that they probably think one type is as good as another. But that’s actually not the case. The efficacy of kefirs gut healing benefits has been documented by numerous scientific studies and even briefly on Trust Me I’m a Doctor in 2017. However, this excellent news about kefir relates specifically to kefir made by fermenting actual kefir grains in milk. We are the only kefir producers – doing this on a commercial scale.
I started the business in 2006 when kefir grains healed my crohn’s disease and IBS (I had suffered daily for more than 10 years!). I started selling kefir in 2007 and actually producing kefir – started the dairy/factory in 2009. Our dairy is located in South Croydon – an unlikely home perhaps, but where I grew up! We buy in fresh organic cow’s milk (and now also fresh goats milk) and we are fermenting our kefir grains 6 days a week. We follow a a multi-fermentation recipe to get it just right for each batch.
So what is the difference then? We have analysed many other brands – and they are simply yoghurt bacteria with some extra kefir type bacteria added (but they don’t say this on the label). They are not real kefir -as real kefir does not contain yoghurt bacteria!
Legally we don’t know how they are allowed to use the name KEFIR? It’s something we are challenging with the Food Standards Agency and Trading Standards.
Our business does not sell to large supermarkets – and it is NOT our intention to do so either. We support and sell through the Independent Health Food and Fine Food Stores in the UK and Ireland. We are doing something we believe in! Yes we want to have a successful, profitable business, but based on truth and supply of something really worthwhile, that genuinely helps people improve their gut health. Something that we feel good about!
I believe consumers really do want the best, honest products. They go to health food and whole food shops to buy organic and brands they can trust – they would not be happy to think that they are being misinformed about any foods they consume.