Yakult reports 38m daily consumers of its fermented milk
Yakult’s fermented milk was developed in Japan by researcher Minoru Shirota in 1935. The product entered Brazil in 1968, after the company’s first executives arrived in the country in 1966.
According to Nemoto, the Brazilian government at the time encouraged the company’s arrival because of concerns about intestinal health, particularly among children. Brazil also had the world’s largest population of Japanese origin outside Japan, which was another consideration in the decision to establish operations there.
Production and sales began in October 1968 at a facility in São Bernardo do Campo, in the ABC region of São Paulo. The site was selected for its water quality and access to the Via Anchieta, which supported distribution. The factory used 3% of the preserved Atlantic Forest on the property. That area remains untouched and under the company’s care after the plant’s closure.
Yakult opened a second facility in Lorena, in the Paraíba Valley, in 1999 as demand for additional products and for the fermented milk increased. The location offered access to the Presidente Dutra highway and suitable water quality. For more than ten years, the São Bernardo do Campo and Lorena factories operated at the same time, with each handling part of the product range.
In March 2013, a new industrial plant of about 11,000 square metres began operating in Lorena. Production was consolidated there, including the Sofyl fermented milk and the Taffman-EX and Hiline F vitamin supplements. The São Paulo facility was then permanently decommissioned.
Nemoto identified Lactobacillus casei Shirota as the exclusive probiotic in Yakult’s fermented milk and associated it with the health of the gastrointestinal tract. The company has added products and formats over time, including Yakult 40 with vitamin D, introduced in 2001 and reformulated in 2026; Yakult 40 Light, launched in 2016; and the Peach and Strawberry versions, introduced in 2025 and 2026 respectively.
The wider Brazilian range also includes Yakult Apple Juice, the soy-based Tonyu drink and the fermented dairy drink Yodel. Research supporting product development across the group is conducted by the Yakult Central Institute in Tokyo. Nemoto said the institute’s continuing work and scientific evidence concerning the probiotic’s intestinal-health benefits underpin the product’s continued use by consumers of different generations in Brazil and elsewhere.
