Plant protein product

Description

The ingredient "plant protein product" can be used for plant protein preparations containing at least 50% protein.

Plant sources include:

• soya beans (see also figure of soya preparation), cereals such as wheat or maize, potatoes or peanuts

Application

Soya proteins are good emulsifying agents: they bind water and fats. Areas of application are mainly:

• bakery products
• convenience foods, packet soups, ready-made sauces
• meat-free products based on soya
• processed fish products, meat- and sausage products
• special pastas (soya noodles)
• basic material for flavourings
• protein-rich food especially for children, athletes and the sick

Gene technology

Soya beans: internationally traded primary product soya stems in general completely or in part from genetically modified plants. GM soya beans are grown on a large scale in Argentina and the USA. The EU imports a large part of the soya primary products from these countries.

Some food companies process exclusively conventional soya raw material. However, it is not technically possible to keep a strict separation of conventional and GM soya beans through all the processing steps. Therefore, even raw materials that are declared as "free of gene technology" contain a small amount of genetically modified material. This can be up to 0.9%.

Cultivation and approval

• In the EU little soya is cultivated. Until now, no GM soya beans have been approved for cultivation.
• Foodstuffs and ingredients prepared from GM soya beans (resistant to herbicides, RoundupReady) have been approved since 1996 in the EU.
• Further applications for the import and processing of GM soya beans have been filed.

Labelling: if the plant protein product has been produced form GM soya beans or other GM plants, it must be labelled as such.
Accidental, technically not measurable mixing of GMO in the soya raw product of up to 0.9% does not require to the derived foodstuff to be labelled.