The History Behind the Innovation
In the late 1990s, farmers representing the United Soybean Board (USB) (www.talksoy.com) recognized the need to engage in an ongoing dialogue with food processors and manufacturers to help guide production strategies. While the food industry offered praise for the well-balanced nutritional profile of liquid soybean oil, they indicated a need for a fatty acid profile that offered more stability for use in baking and frying applications. Their request was to find ways to reduce or eliminate trans fatty acids (trans fats), a byproduct of hydrogenation.

Based on that input, and emerging research on the effect of trans on cholesterol levels, USB put the Better Bean Initiative (BBI) in motion. In order to accelerate development of enhanced soybean varieties, USB assembled a diverse core team of experts made up of USB farmer leaders, agribusiness veterans and soybean breeding experts. This original BBI team analyzed input from the food industry and their work resulted in the following strategic goal and target traits for soybean oil.

Accelerate development of soybean germplasm with superior oil attributes for human health and food quality by:

• Decreasing linolenic acid to reduce or eliminate the need for hydrogenation, and to increase flavor stability
• Decreasing saturated fat for improved human health

QUALISOY Becomes the Path to Soybean Improvements
As the Better Bean Initiative evolved, the need for a more collaborative effort became evident. The concept of QUALISOY resulted from a desire to unite various disciplines within the soybean industry and make better use of the technologies and intellectual property already available.

USB established the 22-member QUALISOY Board of Directors to help guide and support the QUALISOY effort. The QUALISOY Board has representation from multinational and regional technology organizations, industry associations, state soybean boards, processing associations, academia and works closely with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service. QUALISOY Board members share the responsibility of identifying and setting research priorities, evaluating existing and emerging technologies, and expediting the commercialization of healthier soybean oil and more environmentally-friendly soybean meal.

Today
Several low-linolenic soybean oil options are available to the marketplace, providing the food industry solutions to partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Low-linolenic soybeans that currently meet QUALISOY quality standards include VISTIVE™ from Monsanto; Pioneer® brand low-linolenic soybeans; and Asoyia™ Ultra Low-Linolenic soybeans. The resulting oils include Advantage LL brand soy oil processed by Cargill; VISTIVE low-linolenic soy oil processed by Archer Daniels Midland Company, Ag Processing, Cenex Harvest States and Zeeland Farms; TREUS™ brand soy oil, developed in partnership by Bunge and DuPont; and Asoyia Ultra Low-Linolenic soybean oil. In the coming years, it is estimated that additional soybean varieties will be widely available to meet food industry and consumer needs.

The breakthrough of low-linolenic soybean oil has and will continue to benefit the food industry and could add an estimated $100 million per year to the value of soybean commodities. Nearly 60 million pounds of low-linolenic soybean oil was produced from the 2005 soybean crop, 285 million pounds from the 2006 crops, and it is estimated that 800 million pounds will be produced in 2007. Experts predict that 1.3 billion pounds may be available in 2008.

© 2008 QUALISOY