[Further Reading] An Interview with Vitasoy
An Interview with Vitasoy: Nutritious “Milk” Everyone Could Afford
In Hong Kong, Vitasoy is practically a synonym for soya milk. Interviewing this brand, which has grown up alongside so many Hong Kong people since their school days, one soon finds that Vitasoy radiates a spirit of constant innovation and self-improvement. This brand, which holds a warm place in many Hong Kong hearts, has quietly made its way to different corners of the globe, carrying with it not only the affection we have built together but also an unwavering commitment to people’s pursuit of health. That is why this brand, born in Hong Kong before the Second World War, long ago ventured beyond the city, growing steadily — at a pace even healthier than its soya milk — on every patch of soil where people pursue health, and never growing old with the years.
“Hong Kong’s first aseptic paper-pack product”
When Vitasoy was founded, it used the traditional milk-bottle packaging of the 1940s, which imposed severe limits on transport and storage. In the 1950s the company developed its own sterilisation and bottling technology, giving rise to the household-name bottled Vitasoy. For many generations of Hong Kong people, cradling a warm bottle of hot Vitasoy during the winter recess at primary school remains a collective memory.
According to Vitasoy’s representative, the most popular packaging today uses the aseptic paper-pack technology Vitasoy introduced in 1975. The soya milk undergoes ultra-high-temperature sterilisation, heated within seconds to over 135 degrees Celsius, a process that effectively destroys bacteria. The paper carton shields the drink from light, oxygen and outside contamination, so the soya milk keeps longer without any added preservatives.
The arrival of paper-pack Vitasoy greatly improved portability. Children no longer had to wait for the school recess — they could drink Vitasoy on the way to school. And this packaging, far lighter than the glass bottle, provided the ideal conditions for Vitasoy to venture beyond Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Brand Museum has collected some of children’s most intriguing questions about Vitasoy, to give their curiosity full satisfaction.
Image source: Hong Kong Brand Museum picture book The Story of Soya Products (《豆品的故事》)
“In what unexpected places can you buy Vitasoy products?”
Popular as Vitasoy is in Hong Kong, this familiar product can now be found in nearly 40 countries around the world. Beyond Hong Kong, you can buy Vitasoy in mainland China, Europe, the Americas, Australia and Southeast Asia — places Hong Kong people often visit on holiday. And not only that: even Africa, where Hong Kong people seldom set foot, bears Vitasoy’s footprints! Might any children fancy a trip to Africa in search of this familiar taste?
Vitasoy’s representative would not reveal whether the company will market Vitasoy to the South and North Poles. Can the children think of anywhere else Vitasoy ought to be?
“Is Vitasoy actually milk?”
To put the question more precisely: does Vitasoy contain cow’s milk? It turns out Vitasoy is a plant-based drink with no dairy content at all — yet its protein nutrition rivals that of cow’s milk.
After the Second World War, food supplies were short and the general public was widely undernourished. Vitasoy’s founder, Dr Lo Kwee-seong, understood that the soya bean — a foodstuff in China for thousands of years — offered protein no less nourishing than cow’s milk, and so he launched the first ready-to-drink soya milk, giving Hong Kong’s ordinary people an inexpensive yet richly nutritious drink.
This ready-to-drink soya milk was named Vitasoy, and it became, in the minds of Hong Kong people, the very byword for ready-to-drink soya milk.
Image source: Hong Kong Brand Museum picture book The Story of Soya Products (《豆品的故事》)
“Will Vitasoy bring out new products in the future?”
Vitasoy’s representatives replied excitedly, “Of course!” Alongside the classic flavours, they said, Vitasoy actively develops new flavours and launches limited-period products. Besides the original and malt flavours, recent years have brought a low-sugar red bean soya milk.
Vitasoy has also noted the public’s growing attention to health, and has introduced low-sugar soya milk, sugar-free soya milk and plant-milk options to suit everyone’s healthy eating and nutritional needs.
“Has the Vitasoy brand logo changed over the years?”
Long as its history is, Vitasoy in fact refreshed its brand logo and packaging in 2008, taking on a more contemporary look that reflects how it grows and progresses together with Hong Kong.
Vitasoy’s representative explained that the refreshed logo added an oval motif symbolising the soya bean, while carrying over the old design’s joined-up rendering of the three characters 維他奶 (Vitasoy) — expressing the inseparable bond of affection Vitasoy has built with the people of Hong Kong.
Pictured: the evolution of the Vitasoy brand logo before and after the refresh. Source: https://shijuecanyin.com/work_show.html?id=5197
“Vitasoy has over 80 years of history — why doesn’t it grow old?”
It seems every generation of Hong Kong people comes to love drinking Vitasoy. The company’s representative points out that Vitasoy holds fast to creative thinking: it constantly develops new products to bring people new drinking experiences, keeps innovating in its marketing, and uses different media and interactive activities to communicate with the public, insisting on progressing with the times. That is why, more than 80 years after its founding, Vitasoy can still move with the trends and stay forever young.
And there’s more… Vitasoy has prepared a prize quiz especially for readers of The Story of Soya Products.
“Did you know the Vitasoy company has its own ‘Four Heavenly Kings’ (四大天王)?”
Children are welcome to email your answers to discover@hkbrandmuseum.com by 30 June 2023; those who answer correctly will stand a chance to win a lovely gift.
Last updated: November 2022. The further-reading links above supplement the Hong Kong Brand Museum parent-child picture book The Story of Soya Products. Every effort has been made in the book’s production to ensure the accuracy and completeness of its contents; should any information be missing or in need of updating, please kindly notify the author.