What is Food Grade Soy?
Many Americans incorrectly believe the soybeans utilized to make food products overseas are monolithic (i.e., all such foods made from the “commodity soybean”). While most soy foods could theoretically be manufactured from commodity soybeans, they taste better and fulfill other consumer demands (e.g. color of resultant soy foods, solubility of the protein in water solution, and gelling of the protein/water solution when made into tofu) and even certain legal requirements when they are manufactured from very specific food soybean varieties that are grown, harvested, and shipped separately from other varieties of soybeans. That separated production and shipping process is called identity preservation.
North Asia markets annual IP soybean tonnages
The North Asia market for IP soyfoods and soy food ingredients is valued at $2 billion in 2018, and estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10 percent during the next five years (assuming China resumes imports).
Traceability is key for consumer confidence when shipped in containers. These higher value soybeans can be traced from any farm across the U.S. to any customer anywhere in the world.
*The following is only one market place. There is demand all across the world.