Yoghurt Making

Who it is for. Beginners with no formal certificate, including school leavers, women's groups and persons with disabilities. National Proficiency I is the first level of Ghana's TVET framework.

Why yoghurt

• Yoghurt is sold everywhere in Ghana, from big brands to home-made cups. Big makers such as FanMilk sell through thousands of vendors, and small brands such as Yomi began in a home kitchen and now supply over 2,500 retailers.
• Persons with disabilities have been trained in yoghurt making because it needs modest start-up capital.
• Hygiene sells: in a Ghana study, people ate local dairy products only when they believed they were clean, and many samples, including yoghurt, carried germs from poor hygiene.

How the module works

Each unit has learning outcomes, performance criteria, the range and the evidence your assessor needs. You are judged Competent or Not Yet Competent. About 70% of the time is practical, following CTVET's Oil Palm programme split of about 30% school and 70% workplace.

Competency standard

Range. The training kitchen. Evidence. Hygiene checklist; oral questions.

Why it matters

• Staphylococcus aureus from hands and skin makes a poison that heat does not destroy. Symptoms start within 1–7 hours. Dairy products and foods handled a lot are common sources.
• Listeria can grow even in a fridge.
• Raw milk in Ghana has been found to carry germs such as Staphylococcus and E. coli, because traders mix milk and do not heat it. Raw milk can also spread TB from cattle.
• WHO's five keys to safer food are: keep clean, separate raw and cooked, cook thoroughly, keep food at safe temperatures, use safe water and raw materials.

Your hygiene routine

Cleaning tools

1. Rinse in cold or lukewarm water to remove milk.
2. Wash in hot soapy water.
3. Rinse well.
4. Scald with boiling water.
5. Let them air-dry upside down on a clean rack.

Food handlers in Sekondi-Takoradi must pass health screening; the Assembly has refused licences to vendors found with typhoid.

Competency standard

Range. Fresh milk, milk powder and UHT milk. Evidence. Milk test record.

Kinds of milk

• Fresh cow milk must always be heated well before use.
• Milk powder is mixed with safe water. Skim milk powder is about 100 g per litre of water, and whole milk powder carries fat too. Store powder cool and dry.
• Fat-filled powder has vegetable fat instead of milk fat; it is cheaper, but you must label honestly. Both kinds are sold in 25 kg bags in Ghana.
• Use safe drinking water to mix powder.

Tests for fresh milk

Normal milk density is about 1.028–1.034.

Competency standard

Range. One demonstration batch. Evidence. Oral questions; culture handling.

The two bacteria

Yoghurt is made by Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus working together. They turn milk sugar (lactose) into lactic acid. The acid makes the milk protein set into a gel and gives the tangy taste. The yoghurt is ready when it reaches about pH 4.5.

Why heat the milk

Heat the milk to 85 °C for 20–30 minutes or 90–95 °C for about 5 minutes. This:

• kills harmful germs;
• changes the milk proteins so the yoghurt is thicker and holds its whey.

Acid alone does not make raw milk safe; you must heat it.

Starter culture

• Buy freeze-dried starter culture and keep it in the freezer, below −18 °C. Starter culture is sold in Ghana.
• Using yoghurt from the last batch as the starter ("back-slopping") is risky: the balance of bacteria changes, and yeast, mould and other germs can creep in. At this level, use fresh culture.

Competency standard

Range. One batch of each. Evidence. Batch records; finished yoghurt.

The basic method

1. Heat clean milk to 85–95 °C for the right time, stirring so it does not burn.
2. Cool quickly to about 42–43 °C (stand the pot in cold water).
3. Add culture as the packet says and stir gently.
4. Keep warm at 42–43 °C:
   • Set yoghurt: pour into cups first, then keep warm, without moving them, for about 3–3.5 hours.
   • Stirred yoghurt: keep the whole pot warm for about 4–5 hours.
5. Check that it has set and the pH is about 4.5.
6. Cool at once in the fridge to about 5 °C.

A simple method used by small producers: heat to 80–85 °C for 15–20 minutes, cool to 40–45 °C, incubate 3–4 hours, then refrigerate; adding about 50 g of milk powder per litre makes it thicker.

Keeping it warm

A cool box with hot-water bottles, wrapped pots in a warm cupboard, or a small incubator all work. Check the temperature every 30 minutes.

Common faults

Competency standard

Range. One batch of each. Evidence. Batch records; products.

Fruit and flavoured yoghurt

• Add fruit and most sugar after the yoghurt has set; too much sugar in the milk slows the bacteria.
• Cook the fruit (with some sugar) and cool it before adding. Fresh fruit added without cooking must be acidic, pH 4.7 or lower.
• Fruit preparations are usually under 10–15% of the yoghurt.
• Local flavours such as pineapple, mango or sobolo can be tried the same way. Keep notes of what works.

Drinking yoghurt

Stir yoghurt smooth and thin it. If you add water, it must be safe water, and the label must say so; an international standard says drinks based on fermented milk must contain at least 40% fermented milk.

Greek (strained) yoghurt

Greek yoghurt is ordinary yoghurt with much of the watery whey drained off, so it is thick and high in protein.

1. Line a clean colander or hang a clean cloth bag over a bowl.
2. Pour in plain yoghurt.
3. Leave in the fridge to drain for several hours.
4. About 3 kg of milk makes about 1 kg of strained yoghurt.

The leftover liquid is acid whey. Do not pour it into drains or streams; it can feed animals or be composted.

Competency standard

Range. One batch packed, labelled and sold. Evidence. Labels; cold-chain record; sales record.

Cold chain

• Keep yoghurt at 6 °C or below, ideally about 4–5 °C.
• Shelf life is often about 14 days in the fridge for small producers. Factory yoghurt can last longer. Start with 14 days until you have tested your own.
• Solar chest freezers are being used by small vendors in Ghana.

Labels

A food label in Ghana must be in English and include the name, net quantity, ingredients, date made, best-before date, batch number, maker's name and address, and storage instructions. For yoghurt, add "Keep refrigerated".

Permits

• The FDA food hygiene permit lasts a year and must be displayed; the FDA began closing food businesses without it from February 2026.
• The Western Region FDA trains vendors for food vending permits.
• Sekondi-Takoradi lists a fee for retail yoghurt dealers.

Packaging

Cups with lids are sold in bulk in Ghana for about GH¢1.50–1.60 each. Use new, clean cups; never reuse.

Competency standard

Range. The trainee's own plan. Evidence. Costing sheet; one-page plan.

What sells

In October 2026, yoghurt was advertised in Ghana from about GH¢15 for a home-made cup, GH¢18–20 for Greek cups, and GH¢100 for a kilogram of Greek yoghurt. Zeno's became Ghana's first commercial Greek yoghurt maker and opened yoghurt bars.

Location settings that give good returns

Business ideas and ingenuity

Market yourself

• A clean label and a brand name.
• WhatsApp photos of your clean kitchen and products: clean sells.
• Free tastings at schools and churches.
• Be honest about sugar; people are asking about it.

Accessibility

Persons with physical, visual and hearing impairments have been trained in yoghurt making, and a Savannah Region group including people with physical disabilities now sells branded yoghurt. Use a seated work table, a talking or large-display thermometer, timers with sound and light, and work in pairs at the hot stove.

1. Why does reheating not make dirty milk safe?
2. Name WHO's five keys to safer food.
3. Name two tests for fresh milk.
4. Why must milk from treated cows not be used?
5. Name the two yoghurt bacteria.
6. How hot should milk be heated, and for how long?
7. At what temperature do you add culture?
8. What pH shows yoghurt is ready?
9. What do you do if yoghurt does not set?
10. How do you make Greek yoghurt?
11. At what temperature must yoghurt be stored?
12. Name five things on a food label.

Best next reads: the Practical Action yoghurt brief; WHO's Five Keys to Safer Food; the Hub's Food Processing and Money Skills manuals.

What this module does not cover: FDA product registration, plant-based yoghurts, frozen yoghurt and factory equipment (see Levels 2 and 3).

Every source used in this manual is listed, with links, in the Teacher Copy.