Soya - natural production process

There are two processing routes: whole soybean and soy protein isolates.

The main differences between the two processing routes are related to starting materials and processing conditions. This results in soymilks with different nutritional compositions, especially with regard to their micro-nutrient level.

The starting raw material for soy protein isolates production is solvent defatted soya flakes, whereas the starting material for whole bean-based soymilk is soybean seed cotyledons.

The process for soy protein isolates production comprises several stages of protein purification at different pH's, whereas the process for whole bean-based soymilk is based on traditional direct water extraction.

Some of the phytonutrients, the soya oligosaccharides (such as raffinose & stachyose), vitamin E, phytosterols etc. have been selectively removed during the soy protein purification process. Indeed, in soy protein isolates the proteins have more or less been "isolated" from the other macro and micronutrients during the purification process.

Soymilks based on the whole soybean, on the contrary, recover almost all of the natural micronutrients in a more or less unchanged and original ratio in the water extract.

The Members of ENSA are using an exclusive production process that is 100% natural, making it possible to get non-dairy products from carefully selected whole soybeans (no soy isolates) without the use of GM (genetically modified) beans and GM material.

In the natural and traditional process, macro- and micronutrients are gently squeezed from the hydrated soybeans in one single stage at the same time.

The main processing steps are as follows:

• Removing the hulls from the soybeans
• Soaking the soybean cotyledons in water until they are soft enough for further processing
• Milling the hydrated soybeans with fresh water into a fine slurry
• Removing the insoluble ('okara') from the slurry and obtaining the base soymilk
• Adding the ingredients to complete the formulas
• Heat-treating the soymilk to ensure the correct shelf-life of the product (UHT process)
• Packaging