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Non-Tech : Farming -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jon Koplik who wrote (82)	3/29/2000 12:59:00 AM
From: Jon Koplik	Respond to of 4454

New soybean with less "hydrogenation" required. March 28, 2000 New Soybean Oil Said Healthier Filed at 5:45 p.m. EST By The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) -- Government scientists have developed a new soybean that's healthier for the heart because the oil need not go through a process that produces artery-clogging trans fatty acids and it has less than half the saturated fat of conventional soybeans. Food manufacturers -- who use soybean oil in everything from margarine to crackers -- are eager to get the healthier oil because of Food and Drug Administration plans to require the listing of trans fats on food nutrition labels. Consumers won't see the new product before next year at the earliest, however, because the first commercial crop being planted next month in North Carolina will be saved for seed and testing. The new soybean holds ``excellent potential' for food makers and ``will provide the needed flexibility to be used in a wide variety of products,' the Institute of Shortening and Edible Oils said in a recent letter to the United Soybean Board, a producer group that helped fund the USDA research. The institute represents companies that process vegetable oils. ``Just by changing the kind of oil that's used by food manufacturers and restaurants would go a long way to reducing heart disease in this country,' Margo Wootan, director of nutritional policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said Tuesday. The new soybean was developed by Agriculture Department scientists in Raleigh, N.C., using conventional breeding methods, not the genetic engineering that has become controversial in Europe and Asia. More than 80 percent of the vegetable oil used in cooking and food manufacturing comes from soybeans because of its relatively low price and wide availability. But soybean oil cannot be used for cooking unless it is hydrogenated to extend its shelf life and improve its flavor. Hydrogenation, which also solidifies the oil, removes linolenic acid that causes the oil to taste rancid when heated. The new soybeans have a third as much linolenic acid as conventional varieties. Hydrogenated oil would still be needed for some products, such as baked goods, to give them the proper texture and body, but manufacturers could blend in oil that isn't hydrogenated to lower the overall content of trans fat, according to industry experts. Health experts say trans fatty acids may be even worse for the heart than saturated fat. Studies indicate that eating trans fat increases LDL-cholesterol, often called ``bad cholesterol,' which increases the risk of heart disease. At the same time, it reduces levels of HDL, the ``good cholesterol' that is good for the heart. However, consumers have no way of knowing how much of it is in food. Margarine made from hydrogenated soybean oil now lists only the saturated fat -- about 2 grams per serving -- and not the 3 grams of trans fat. Three Nabisco's Chips Ahoy! cookies have a total of 2 grams of saturated fat along with another 2 grams of trans fat. The FDA's plan, which is spurring the search for healthier cooking oil, would include the amount of trans fat in a footnote on nutrition labels while adding the amount to saturated fat in the usual listing. ``We want to do everything we can to avoid the labeling when it comes,' Jay Franklin, an Oklahoma soybean farmer, said Tuesday. A private seed company, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, also is working on developing new varieties of soybeans that are low in trans fat-causing linolenic acid. One such variety now in testing has half as much linolenic acid as conventional soybeans. Unlike the USDA soybean, the Pioneer variety isn't lower in saturated fat. About 1,000 acres of USDA's new soybean will be planted this year, enough to produce seed for 50,000 acres in 2001, said Richard Wilson, one of the scientists working on the project. Varieties with similar traits are being bred for local growing conditions in nine other states: Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. There are still challenges for getting healthier soybeans into full-scale production, because processors have to keep them separate from conventional soybeans to preserve the special traits, said Kim Nill, who tracks crop development for the American Soybean Association. Processors must have access to a sufficient supply to make it economical for them to switch to such special varieties. ------ On the Net: USDA's Agricultural Research Service: ars.usda.gov United Soybean Board site: unitedsoybean.org Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company