Soy consumption in the form of fresh or in processed form can improve nutrition. They can be consumed directly as human food products, or they can be crushed into meal and oil. Soy oil finds a variety of uses for domestic and industrial purposes besides its use in several food preparations and animal feed.
Soybeans grown for direct human consumption are either used directly as a whole seed or are processed and incorporated as a high protein ingredient for food products like tofu, tempeh, soy milk, soy cheese or other products.
Besides its use for domestic purposes, soy oil finds multifarious uses in industries related to production of pharmaceuticals, plastics, papers, inks, paints, varnishes, pesticides and cosmetics.
Recently, use of soy oil as biodiesel has opened up another possibility of renewable sources of energy for industrial uses. Soy biodiesel is a fuel alternative. It is produced from soybean oil, clean burning ester-based oxygenated fuels made from renewable sources including soybean oil, other vegetable oils and animal fats, for use in compression-ignition (diesel) engines.
Modern Uses of Soybeans
