Soy samples, please!

Soy samples, please!

Identity-preserved – or IP – means buyers of U.S. soy can get the specific characteristics they’re looking for in order to make their food. Those characteristics can include color, size, oil, protein content and much more.

But how do those customers find the specific products they’re looking for?

A tool to help them learn about the different varieties of soybeans available in the United States is currently in development. A U.S. Soyfood Variety Database is expected to launch in 2021, and soyfood exporters are being asked to submit samples of the varieties they currently handle.

The database project is being led by U.S. stakeholders, including U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC), Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA), United Soybean Board, qualified state soybean boards, exporters and farmers.

“We want to provide a holistic picture of soy foods that are being grown in the U.S.,” Will McNair, USSEC Director of Oil and Soy Foods Programs, told a virtual audience at the U.S. Soy Global Trade Exchange & Specialty Grains Conference in August. “We need information from exporters and farmers on varieties that exist and are being developed.”

Todd Sinner, partner and vice president of SB&B Foods and chair of SSGA’s Food Grade Soya Action Team is a member of the workgroup that helped develop the database.

“After months of collaboration among many U.S. soy industry stakeholders, we are excited to deliver a database of U.S. IP soybeans to the international marketplace,” Sinner said. “Buyers of U.S. IP soy will soon have access to variety of data and analysis spanning multiple soy food industries. As this effort kicks off, it is very important for all IP soy exporters and allied industry partners to participate in the University of Minnesota sampling program.”

Exporters should contact the University of Minnesota’s Seth Naeve and Jill Miller-Garvin, who are handling the samples and testing, for sample kits at naeve002@umn.edu and mille443@umn.edu. Samples should be submitted no later than Oct. 30.