It is a good question. However, it is a stubborn one to answer. But the National University of Lesotho (NUL) scientist, Kemelo Matela, gave it a good shot. His verdict? Sebabatso beat them in the health department. But they beat Sebabatso in the taste department (N.B. Sebabatso fans fiercely disagree).
The results are being published in peer reviewed journals.
A scientist, Mr Kemelo Matela, Who is supervised by Dr Manoharan Pillai, put his emotions aside as he investigated how the little-known Sebabatso fared against the mighty and gigantic South African yogurt brands (whose names we won’t mention).
He found that David could, indeed, bring down Goliath.
Here is how he did it.
He took three brands, Sebabatso from NUL and the other two from South Africa and studied three flavours in each brand to compare. So there were a total of 9 flavours. Here are the factors he considered.
Moisture content: Acceptable moisture content allows for starter cultures to do a good fermentation of milk to yield yogurt. The United States Department of Agricuture (USDA), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommend that moisture content of yogurt be less than 84%. Sebabatso (Sbabi) and another brand scored 79% and the third brand had 76%.
So Sbabi was doing well.
Ash content: This measures the amount of minerals in yogurt. Sbabi had an ash content of 0.9% followed by the other two at around 0.4%. Sbabi was rich in minerals which is a very good thing for strong bones. “It could be that Sbabi was made from mineral-rich milk,” Kemelo said.
Carbohydrates: These are generally associated with sugar content. Sbabi was at 13% while the other two ranged around 18% in carbs content. Now, more is not always better—which is true in this case. “Carbohydrates in milk can also be found in the form of lactose,” Kemelo said. “Too much lactose can be bad for people who are lactose intolerant.”
Protein: All the three yogurts were mostly below 2.7% protein content, which is a standard recommendation. Standards recommend that yogurt should have protein content not less that 2.7%. All of them had less than 2.7% protein but close to it as they ranged around 2.4, 2.6% and only one flavour out of the 9 (of a South African Brand) of had exactly 2.7%.
Fat: Sebabatso was rich in fat (those who have tasted it know what we are talking about). That rich creamy taste can be attributed to Sbabi’s high fat content. Now this may be good or bad, depending on where you come from.
For children, who don’t have weight or cholesterols to worry about, it’s all good. For adults who have weight or cholesterols to worry about, maybe not.
According to USDA standards, any yogurt with a fat content of more than 3.25% should just be labelled “yogurt” (Sbabi was at 3.5%). Anything between 0.5 and 2.0% is to be called “low fat yogurt.” So Sbabi ain’t no “low fat.”
Sbabi is for those that like the real thing, “makoya.”
Fibre: Codex standards for yogurt recommends that yogurt should have no fibre. Sbabi had no fibre. The other two brands had very small fibre content of about 0.03%.
Total solids: Here, Sbabi and the rest are around 20%. Standard recommendation is that yogurt should have between 20 and 24% total solids. Above 24%, growth of microorganisms is inhibited. Below 20% , the yogurt becomes thin and tasteless.
Total solids non-fat (SNF): These are the solids on which microorganisms feed during a fermentation process. Sbabi had 16% of these while one brand ranged at 18-19% and another at 20-21%. Both USDA and FDA recommend that SNF in yogurt must not be below 8.25%. So
all the yogurts did great.
Energy content: This is normally associated with sugar content. Sbabi had the most moderate energy content. Low sugar content makes for a healthy yogurt.
PH: Sbabi was also good here. It had the highest PH (Lowest pH - more acidic) which is said to make calcium bio-available. That means when the PH is low, your body is able to utilise the calcium. You can have high calcium content in yogurt only for your body to be unable to absorb it because it is not bio-available.
Syneresis: It is the ability of gels to separate from other liquids. When Symerisis is high, it means the yogurt is not stable.
Sebabatso did not do well here. Hence it needs to be stored in really cool spaces to last long.
Sensory analysis: Here, a number of people at the NUL tasted all 9 yogurts and they were then asked to grade the three brands and their three flavours on the basis of sensory evaluation, taste, flavour, aroma and overall acceptability.
Sbabi came last mainly because others were sweeter due to high sugar content and many people like sweet taste.
“Overall,” Kemelo concluded, “Sbabi beat them in health, they beat Sbabi in taste.”
