By Richard Galloway
QUALISOY Newsletter

Since its inception, the QUALISOY Board has expended considerable efforts in evaluating the need for
various potential compositional enhancements to the soybean. Threats to soybean demand clearly exist. One such threat stems from the need for soybean oil to be partially hydrogenated for certain food applications, and this process usually forms trans-fatty acids in the finished oil. Trans fat has been shown to be detrimental to serum cholesterol levels.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will require food companies to label the content of trans fat in their food products as of January 1, 2006. This will lead to a reduced demand for partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, including soybean oil, and an increased demand for vegetable oils with enhanced traits that increase the flavor and oxidative stability of the oil without hydrogenation. Aside from this threat to soybean oil demand, clear opportunities to increase the demand for soybean oil continue to exist.

QUALISOY helped to lead the introduction of three soybean products with enhanced flavor stability; the low linolenic VISTIVE™ from Monsanto; low linolenic soybeans from Pioneer, whose oil is marketed as NUTRIUM™ by Bunge; and Asoyia™, the ultra low linolenic soybean from Iowa State University. But that is just the beginning.

QUALISOY is accelerating its evaluation of other potential compositional enhancements to further improve both the oil characteristics and meal characteristics of the bean. Increasing the oleic content of the soybean while keeping the linolenic level at or below 3% will add more resistance to oil oxidation from high heat applications, such as fast food frying. Decreasing the saturated fat content of the soybean will enhance its value to consumers who closely monitor their saturated fat intake.

Opportunities for enhancing the value of soybean meal also exist. QUALISOY is evaluating opportunities to increase the caloric value of soybean meal, to decrease the non-nutritive phosphorus in meal and to modify the amino acid balance of the soybean for enhanced feed value.

Low linolenic soybeans are a great start, but the best is yet to come.

QUALISOY is at www.qualisoy.com