United Soybean Board expanding knowledge of human consumption of beans

The contents of this blog come from an interview conducted with United Soybean Board in Washington DC.

Soybeans can easily be thought of as only a livestock food. However, the United Soybean

Board is advancing the soybeans reputation and expanding the use of soy oil and protein for

human consumption. I spoke with Mary Stewart, United Soybean Board Director, about expanding the use of soybeans.

"The soybean is in a beautiful position to really be a focal point in the food for human consumption. We talk about it a lot in the animal, protein, you know, obviously chickens and pigs are our main consumers of our soybeans, but we really want to position it for their people," Stewart said.

Their focus is to make soybeans more accessible and increase knowledge of how to use

them.

"We on the soybeans board, are networking with grocery chains and restaurants and that whole marketplace up and down vertically. You know, we want to make sure that we've got soy positions to be able to use it in all homes and be able to prep the cook with it and use it and just get more comfortable with it. Through like right now, we know the food products are tempeh and miso and edamame soy milk. So we just want to make it a little bit more of a staple in the household," Stewart said.

Changes in diet and food consumption in the U.S. have been a driving force for this.

"Right now, it's an exciting time because there's always new opportunities and the current opportunity that a lot of people are talking about is GLP-1. And right now,15% of the United States is currently using GLP-1's and that's really going to explode. Probably we know it's going to be so growthy and the soybean for in the food in that food plate is looking really good because of that protein that it has," Stewart said.