Lifeway has always used organic cane juice for its organic line of kefir, and this will now be rolled out across its entire sweetened low fat kefir line.
"We are very excited to sweeten our main line of Kefir with organic cane juice," said Julie Smolyansky, Lifeway Foods' president.
"The adjustment was made because of overwhelming demand from current and potential Lifeway customers. Pomegranate as a flavor is also tremendously growing in the market making us thrilled to add Pomegranate Kefir as a new flavor to our growing line of low fat kefirs."
Recent studies at the University of Cincinnati suggest that consuming fructose could affect the metabolic rate in a way that favors fat storage, though these findings have been challenged by the Corn Refiners Association.
The firm has also announced the addition of Pomegranate Kefir, a new low fat kefir flavor, to its growing product line.
Also sweetened with Organic Cane Juice, Pomegranate Kefir contains all ten live and active cultures and has similar health benefits to other Lifeway Kefirs.
The firm claims that this new kefir flavor may also aid the immune and digestive systems, provide a good source of both calcium and protein and may even promote weight loss during a reduced calorie diet.
Pomegranate Kefir will be heavily distributed using the same retail channels as all Lifeway Kefirs including health food and specialty stores nationwide.
Lifeway, named as Forbes' 38th best small business and Fortune Small Business' 47th Fastest Growing Small Business, is America's leading supplier of the cultured dairy product known as kefir. Kefir is a milk-based beverage that contains ten types of "friendly," active probiotic cultures.
In addition to kefir, the company's products include Farmer's Cheese, Sweet Kiss (a sweetened cheese spread), and Soy-Treat, a soy-based kefir. A new drinkable yogurt product is aimed at the Hispanic market with the brand name La Fruta.
Lifeway is hoping that with increased production capacity and a bit of distribution help from minority shareholder French food giant Groupe Danone, it can get a crack at the big-league grocery chains. Chairperson Smolyansky owns 49 percent of Lifeway, while Danone owns about 20 percent.