ExPress® Soymeal, an Alternative Ingredient to Solvent Extracted Soybean Meal
The majority of the world’s soybeans are processed into oil and meal by the use of organic solvents. The solvent extraction method is an efficient way of extracting the oil, but it requires huge capital investment, high technical knowhow, and a well-developed infrastructure for collection, storage and distribution of raw material and finished goods. The majority of developing countries do not have the production volume, infrastructure and capital resources required for a viable solvent extraction industry. The fact is that soy production in these countries is small scale and scattered over large geographic areas therefore, de-centralized processing on a small scale becomes necessary.
The emission of chemical vapors into the atmosphere has become a significant environmental concern relative to solvent extraction. On the other hand, the alternative Insta-Pro technology is capable of delivering high quality finished products, chemical-free from the seed to the plate.
With the introduction of ExPress® soymeal to the world, feed formulators and nutritionists realize that they can use this ingredient in any given diet without much restriction. Its protein and amino acid content compare favorably with that of solvent extracted soybean meal, while it has a residual oil content of 5-7%. The higher digestibility of nutrients in ExPress® soybean meal, along with the higher energy level compared with solvent soybean meal makes the ExPress® soybean meal a very practical ingredient that can be used as the main source of protein and energy in a given diet. Also, the expelled oil from the ExPress® process can also be sold for human food and industrial applications.
Properly processed ExPress® soymeal is recognized as an excellent ingredient for all livestock, poultry and companion animals. Our own R&D collaboration with Dr. Carl Parsons at University of Illinois has indicated that ExPress® soymeal exhibited higher amino acid digestibilities, nearly 1 percentage unit for methionine and lysine, than commodity soybean meal in broiler chickens. On the other hand, Woodworth, et al, (2001) reported that extruded-expelled (ExPress®) soybean meal, with or without the hulls removed, had significantly higher amino acid digestibility and greater digestible and metabolizable energy for pigs, when compared with high protein or low protein solvent extracted soybean meals.
For Ruminant animals, the quality of by-pass protein is of significance especially for high lactating dairy cows. ExPress® soymeal has a greater percentage of by-pass protein than solvent extracted soybean meal. Our collaboration with Dr. Marshall Stern at University of Minnesota indicated that ExPress® by-pass protein was better digested in the intestine (meaning it would be available for productive purposes) compared to commodity soybean meal.
A study at Utah State University with high lactating dairy cows indicated that feeding ExPress® soymeal as opposed to three different commercially available by-pass protein soy meals, resulted in 2 more pounds of fat corrected milk.
A Pennsylvania layer producer reported that feeding ExPress® soymeal to layers, replacing solvent-extracted soybean meal and added blend of animal/vegetable fat, resulted in larger egg size, better feed efficiency and significant feed consumption reduction. All these facts translate into more profit for the grower and producer.
