Chinese company targets non-GM markets

A Chinese food company is betting on a new processing method for non-GM soybeans, to break into new markets in Asia and Europe.

Shan Song Biological Products Co. Ltd. is a Shandong, China-based company, and is a major Chinese producer of soy protein.

In a statement, the company said it had achieved a breakthrough in its non-GM soybean processing technology, which has helped the company in finding a new market in Russia, which it is supplying with a range of non-GM soybean products.

According to the company, non-GM soybeans can have limited yields and costly conventional processing operations, so processing soybeans into finished products in the traditional way has been leading businesses – including Shan Song – to a loss.

Shan Song however cultivates its own fifty acres of non-GM soybeans, which it said it wanted to leverage to offset these losses, and so invested in an alternative approach to processing non-GM soybeans.

“First, we refine the soybean to semi-finished soybean, then refine the soybean part and separate the protein,” it said.

According to the statement, in the past, the company added soybean oligosaccharide, to produce soy whey.

Besides adding additional value to soybeans, Shan Song’s new processing method can extend the supply chain for domestic soybeans and open new markets as well, the company claimed.

“Shan Song reprocesses its rough finished products into eight sorts of new products. The same amounts of soybeans, which are processed through Shan Song's process method, were able to make maximum value,” it said.

The company said that semi-finished soybean oil can be firstly gained through the traditional method, then the soybean can be purified and the isolated protein can be used for its own purposes.

“After the first press to produce soybean oil, the plant is devoted to soybean meal, bean water and other by-products' deep processing, making waste into treasure,” it said.

The breakthrough will allow the company to tap the Russian market – and other GM-restrictive countries in the future, the company said.