Ingredients and Additives Soy is Everywhere

Soybeans are the basis for countless ingredients, additives, and vitamins. They provide nutrients for microorganisms and feed for poultry, swine, and cattle. It is estimated that soy plays at least a small part in 20,000 to 30,000 products that are on the market today, whether directly as an ingredient or indirectly as feed or a nutrient source.

Each year, the EU imports approximately 18 million tonnes of soybeans and 20 million tonnes of soy meal from Brazil, the US, and Argentina. The majority of imported soy enters the market as animal feed. Still, a significant amount of soy is processed in oil mills and provides the basis for countless food additives.

GM soybeans are now widely grown in the world's major soybean producing countries. By and large, soy products on the world market are at least partially made from GM soybeans. Conventionally derived soybeans are now only available from northern Brazil, where shipments are checked for GM content. If tests reveal that GM content is below 0.9 percent, labelling is not required.

Overview: Soy-based food and feed

Soy products require labelling if the raw material at least partially consisted of GM soybeans. Unintentional, technically unavoidable admixtures of GM content of up to 0.9 percent are excluded.

Soy ingredient	Use	Processing and testing for GM content	Labelling
Oils and fats	Margarine, vegetable oils, mayonaise, and many other fat products	Soy oil must be refined in order to get rid of solvent residues and other unwanted substances. This process involves heating oil to 120°C in a vacuum, which destroys DNA and protein to such an extent that it becomes impossible to tell if it was made from GM soybeans.	Yes
Lecithin and other emulsifiers	Chocolate, desserts, baked goods, and other processed foods	Lecithins are naturally found in soy oil. If lecithin is extracted from refined soy oil, GM content cannot be detected. If lecithin comes from soy oil that has not been refined, it may be possible to identify traces of GM soy.	Yes
Tocopherol / Vitamin E	Prevents oxidation in many fatty foods; used in vitamin fortified products	Vitamin E is produced as a by-product of plant oils. For detecting GM content, the situation is the same as lecithin.	Yes
Soy protein additives, soy isolate	Prepared foods (soups, sauces), meat substitutes, diet foods, imitation milk products, e.g. non-dairy creamer	Made from roasted, de-oiled soy flakes. Although GM content can still be detected, the final product usually undergoes more processing, which destroys traces of GM content.	Yes
Soy meal, semolina flour	Bread, snacks, pasta	Similar to soy protein additives; baking often destroys traces of GM content.	Yes
Hydrolysed soy protein	Soy sauce, seasonings	The protein is chemically changed by acids or enzymes. This usually destroys DNA.	Yes
Products from whole soybeans	Tofu, soy drinks, miso, soy flour	GM traces can be detected in products made from whole soybeans. Traditional soy products are usually made from soybeans grown with special contract agreements. These soybeans have special quality requirements and are not mixed with mainstream soybean production.	Yes
Feed for poultry, swine, beef, and aquaculture	Indirectly for animal products like meat, eggs, and milk	Generally speaking, plant genetic information is not detectable in animals, regardless if they were fed GM feed.	Yes, (resulting animal products: No)

See also on GMO-Compass:

• GM soybean: The majority of worldwide soybean production