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Soybean oil is a vegetable oil extracted from the seeds of the
soybean (Glycine max). It is one of the most widely consumed
cooking oils. Being one of the drying oils,it is also used as a
base for printing inks and oil paints.
Soybeans are an important global crop, providing oil and protein.
In the United States, the bulk of the crop is solvent-extracted
with hexane, and the toasted defatted soymeal (*0% protein) then
makes possible the
raising of farm animals (e.g. chicken, hog, turkey) on an
industrial scale never before seen in human history.
A very small proportion of the crop is consumed directly by humans.
Soybean products do, however, appear in a large variety of
processed foods.
Approximately *5% of the world's soybean crop is processed into
soybean meal and vegetable oil. Soybeans can be broadly classified
as vegetable" (garden) or field (oil) types. Vegetable types cook
more easily, have a mild, nutty flavor, better texture, are larger
in size, higher in protein, and lower in oil than field types. Tofu
and soy milk producers prefer the higher protein cultivars bred
from vegetable soybeans originally brought to the United States in
the late ***0s. The garden cultivars are generally not suitable
for
mechanical combine harvesting because there is a tendency for the
pods to shatter upon reaching maturity.
Soybean seed contains about *9% oil. To extract soybean oil from
seed, the soybeans are cracked, adjusted for moisture content,
rolled into flakes and solvent-extracted with commercial hexane.
The oil is then refined, blended for different applications, and
sometimes hydrogenated. Soybean oils, both liquid and partially
hydrogenated, are exported abroad, sold as vegetable oil or end up
in a wide variety of processed foods.
The remaining soybean meal is used mainly as animal feed.
