ABSTRACT

An in-depth examination of the soy complex and the multitude of technologies involved provides some insight into the more practical applications of engineering principles to food processing operations. Today, many familiar products are produced from soybeans as part of soy complex. These include cooking oils and fats, salad oil, salad dressings, margarine, lecithin, soy protein isolates and concentrates, texturized meat analogs, meat extenders, and animal feed. The ancient Chinese learned that while soybeans could be soaked in water and cooked, more interesting and useful products could be manufactured from constituents of soybean. The cow is considerably higher than soybean on the food chain, and the cost of producing a pound of milk protein is several times more than the cost of producing a pound of soy protein. Virtually all soybean oil in the United States is obtained by solvent extraction. The protein content can be increased, and flavor and odor improved by separating the proteins from carbohydrates of soy flour.