Yakult S’pore switches flavours for the first time since 1980, swapping orange with new peach mix
Alyssa Woo
The Straits Times
June 10, 2026
Fans of Yakult’s orange flavour have about a month or so to stock up on the Japanese probiotic milk drink before they have to say sayonara to it for good.
“If you like Yakult’s orange flavour, you should drink it now,” said Yakult Singapore’s managing director Masaaki Sunami.
The orange flavour will be replaced by a new-to-market peach version starting in July 2026. This marks the first time Yakult is refreshing the flavour line-up in Singapore since 1980, when the fat- and gluten-free beverage was launched in orange, grape and apple flavours.
Production for the orange flavour will cease at the end of June and be available on a while-stocks-last basis.
Sunami said the company had received many requests from customers to bring other Yakult flavours to Singapore, especially the peach flavour.
He added that the most popular version in Singapore is the original Yakult flavour, followed by the grape and apple options.
The peach flavour was launched in China in 2024, and is available in the classic format as well as other product variants in Europe, China, Brazil and Vietnam.
The Japanese health drink is available in other flavours worldwide, such as muscat in Mexico and China, and mango in Indonesia and India.
Sunami said that while the orange flavour has built up a loyal following over the years, the company had to decide between the orange and peach flavours due to production capacity constraints at its Singapore factory.
He added: “When evaluating the options, we found that Yakult Peach had performed very well in other markets and was particularly popular with consumers internationally. Based on those results and our assessment of future growth opportunities, we decided to discontinue orange and introduce peach instead.
“We understand that some consumers may miss the orange flavour, especially those who have enjoyed it for many years. However, we believe the peach option offers a strong alternative and are encouraged by its success in other countries.”
Yakult is a probiotic cultured milk drink that contains the Lacticaseibacillus paracasei Shirota, a unique strain of lactic acid bacteria that was discovered by Yakult founder Minoru Shirota in 1930. The drink was launched in Japan in 1935.
Yakult Singapore was established in 1978 in Hillview Avenue, and moved to its current factory headquarters in Senoko Avenue in 1992.
Besides the original Yakult drink, the brand launched Yakult Ace Light in Singapore in 2004 and Yakult Light in 2018, followed by Yakult Gold in 2023.
In 2025, the Y1000 drink – containing more than 100 billion live probiotics in a 110ml bottle – was made available here. In Singapore, Yakult Original is available in a 100ml bottle and contains 10 billion live bacteria of the Shirota strain.
About 7,000 bottles of the Y1000 are air-flown from Japan to Singapore each week. The beverage is now manufactured only in Japan due to specialist technology needed to cultivate the high density of the Shirota bacteria strain. Sunami said the drink has been selling well.
Yakult Singapore makes between 250,000 and 300,000 bottles of Yakult Original, Yakult Gold and Yakult Light every day, with about 90,000 bottles of the original Yakult flavour shipped to Brunei every month. Yakult Ace Light is made in Malaysia.
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