SOYA OIL
AN OIL WITH MANIFOLD
OPPORTUNITIES
The smell of soya oil is keen, musty or nutty and is char-
acterised as pleasant. The oil is won from the seeds of the
soybean that was cultivated in China as early as 3.000 B.C.
and in Korea around 1.000 B.C. The annual plant is a mem-
ber of the
papilionaceae
family and was originally a
byproduct from the cultivation of concentrated feeding-
stuffs for livestock farming. Nowadays, this vegetable oil
is mainly used in comestible goods like salad oils, marge-
rine or cooking fats. The residues from the soya oil pro-
duction, e.g. the grist and presscake left from the extrac-
tion process, are rich in protein and can therefore be used
as animal food. The cosmetics branch uses the fatty acids
contained in soya oil in body care products and bath oils.
Other applications
include the use as
quick-drying oil in paints
and fillers or in printing inks
for newspapers. Soya oil can be
won from the soybeans by press-
ing or by extraction. Pressed
soya oil is light yellow whereas
the extracted oil appears brownish-yellow. At AURO,
we use the light yellow oil from certified organic
farming (cof) as soap in many products.
A marvellous bean with risky side effects
The soybean constitutes a great danger to South Ameri-
ca‘s primeval forests. Since the 1970s, a real soya boom
has developped that is responsible for the disappearance
of nearly all of the Atlantic rainforest and big parts of the
Cerrado savanna. In the meantime, the soya cultivation
areas have advanced deep into the Amazon region although
the rainforest soil is not even suited for the cultivation of
soya. The use of soya as animal feed and the manifold neg-
ative implications for the environment once more show
that we are in desperate need of a global-scale sustainable
agriculture.
ORIGIN:
ITALY
from
c
ertified
o
rganic
f
arming
Oils and fats
cof
48
