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 SOYBEANS
were cultivated in China before 3,000 BC and were considered so important
as to be one of the five 'sacred grains' along with rice, wheat, barley
and millet. The different varieties have names like Great Treasure,
Brings Happiness and Yellow Jewel. Missionaries brought
soya back to Europe in the seventeenth century but climatic and soil
conditions meant they were hard to grow. Soya arrived in the US in
the early nineteenth century as ballast aboard returning ships but
Soya farming there only expanded following the Second World War during
which production in China had been devastated. |
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Growing beans
Today, 110 million tonnes of beans are produced worldwide.
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There are over a thousand varieties of Soya
Hectare for hectare soybeans yield more protein than meat. A hectare of soybeans yields
162 kilograms of protein, 18 times more protein than it would yield if the same hectare
were devoted to feeding cattle to produce beef. Yet soybeans are not a major part of diet
in rich countries. In the West soybeans are grown mainly to feed animals, with the oil
by-product used as margarine, vegetable oil, mayonnaise and other dressings.
Henry Ford said that he would rather ‘grow cars than mine them’.
By 1935 Ford assembly lines were pumping 30 litres of soybeans into
each vehicle as paint, body materials and oils. And by 1940 Ford
had produced a complete car body made from Soya-based plastic –
though oil-derived chemicals soon took over.
70 per cent of all herbicides used in the US are sprayed on soybeans and corn.
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Some Soya uses
Tofu, plastic, soy sauce, cooking oils, margarines, flour, chocolate,
ice-cream, bread, biscuits, Soya milk, pet foods, baby foods, breakfast
cereals, pasta, soups, pizza, sweets, vegeburgers, soap, detergents,
plastics, CFC-free cooling agents, skin creams, gelatine capsules.
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Healthy
Soya
Soybeans are rich in iron, B vitamins, calcium and zinc, as well as protein. Their oil is
polyunsaturated, has a low level of saturated fatty acids and is said to reduce
cholesterol.
... and GM Soya
Soya was one of the first foods to be genetically modified (GM) so
as to need less herbicide. A big row ensued as soybean farmers in
the US said they couldn’t separate GM from non-GM Soya and campaigners
argued for the right to know what they were eating. In 1998 the European
Union required food products containing GM Soya to be clearly labelled.
Greenpeace estimates that more than 60% of processed food — from
ready-to-eat meats to vegetarian sausages — uses GM Soya in some
form or another. |
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New
Internationalist 329
