What does Soybean Contain?
Soya as a food ingredient About two-thirds of all manufactured food products contain derivatives or ingredients made from soya. Before they can be used in food products the soya beans have to be cleansed, cracked, dehulled and rolled into flakes, which ruptures the oil cells for easy extraction. The oil is extracted using a food-grade solvent, n-hexane – mostly for production of vegetable oil and margarine. In its pure form as a vegetable oil, it is often used in salad dressings and mayonnaise; as a vegetable fat it is used for baking and frying. Soya lecithin acts as an emulsifier in some chocolate, breakfast cereals, ice cream, sweets and margarine. Soya oil is also used in a wide variety of non-food products eg soap, biological detergents, plastics, and CFC-free cooling agents; the derivative glycerine is used in the manufacture of emulsifiers for skin cream and softeners for gelatin capsules. Soya flours were developed in the 1940s by grinding and screening defatted flakes; these a
