CJ CheilJedang launches a 1g-sugar soy milk line under its Altive plant-based brand

What Happened

South Korea's CJ CheilJedang unveiled two new soy milks — almond and faro flavors — under its Altive brand, each carrying just 1g of sugar per 190ml pack while relying on the natural sweetness of soybeans and grains. The launch comes alongside a reformulation of Altive's protein shakes, now delivering 21g of plant protein per 250ml bottle with improved flavor, as the brand refreshes its packaging to chase younger consumers in Korea's growing non-dairy milk market.

Why It Matters

Hitting 1g of sugar per 190ml without added sweeteners, relying only on the grains' own natural sugars, is a harder formulation problem than it sounds — most low-sugar plant milks compensate with more salt or gums to fix the resulting thinness.

1g of sugar with no added sweetener — the grain has to do all the work.

FET's Takeaway

The 21g plant protein reformulation is the more telling move here — it signals CJ is chasing the protein-forward younger-consumer segment as hard as the sugar-reduction one, and doing both at once is where most reformulations fail on taste.