USSEC, in cooperation with the American Soybean Association (ASA) and the United Soybean Board (USB), sponsored a team from the Americas region to attend a short course at the National Soybean Research Laboratory (NSRL) at the University of Illinois. The course, titled “Processing and Marketing Soybeans for Meat, Dairy, Baking and Snack Applications” was hosted by the International Soybean Program (INTSOY) and ran from June 1-6. USSEC consultant Pedro Gonzalez led the team, which was comprised of Alejandro Alarcon, Serafin Cruz, Crescenciano Saucedo, Jose Herrera, Leo El Gonzalez, MC Ana Sandoval Garcia, and Marcial Amieva.
The intensive five day course is designed for technical, plant management, marketing, quality control, and research personnel interested in promoting the private sector expansion of soyfoods to the international market. The course included participant training in soybean processing and utilization at the INTSOY facilities and lectures were held at the NSRL. Attendees had the opportunity to network and meet with a host of soyfood companies and gained practical information on soy processing such as extrusion, texturizing, soy milk, and dairy analogs. They also discussed current topics such as biodiesel, aquaculture and biotechnology. USSEC consultant Pedro Gonzalez spoke on the topic of “Processing Soyfoods and Soy Beverages.”