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Summary
Soybeans have found their way into an eye-opening array of foods. They are used in soy milk, soy yogurt, soyburgers, soy loaf, soy sausage, and infant formulas. The familiar Oriental staple tofu, soybean curd, is made by coagulating soy milk. But also soy oil is the most widely used edible oil in the United States; you'll find it in mayonnaise, salad dressing, processed cheese products, dessert frostings, and much more. Soy components such as protein and oil are ingredients in dozens of everyday foods-from the granola bar you eat for breakfast and the potato chips at lunch, to a late-night sandwich. Most chocolate treats contain soy lecithin.

Between 1980 and 1994 alone, ARS (of the USDA agency) scientists released 66 varieties and 280 breeding lines.

Due to ARS research, soybeans have been incorporated into a host of nonfood products. These range from your morning newspaper printed with soy oil-based ink to lipstick, plastics, flooring, paints, and stain-removing cleaners.

What more can be made of the soybeans? At one ARS lab, they are cloning soy's genes for proteins, with an eye to improving its nutritional quality. At another, they are trying to learn how stress factors such as drought and heat affect the plant's ability to flower. (Fewer flowers mean fewer beans, of course.) They are growing specialized soybeans to tailor soy-based products for every niche, from the supermarket to the export market!

Photo by Scott Bauer, USDA