[liamona]

I just saw this on Natural News and the Cornucopia Institute. Apparently, most non-organic soy is processed with hexane.

Soy Protein Used in "Natural" Foods Bathed in Toxic Solvent Hexane by Mike Adams the Health Ranger

YouTube - Hexane contamination of soy protein and soy products

Cornucopia Institute » Blog Archive » Soy Report and Scorecard

"Unless a soy-based vegetarian burger or meat analog product is organic, with the green USDA Organic seal on the package, it almost certainly contains hexane-extracted soy protein, such as soy protein isolate or soy protein concentrate. Texturized vegetable protein is also a common ingredient in meat analogs and is usually a soy isolate or concentrate that has been further processed with high heat and pressure to resemble the texture of real meat.

To make conventional soy protein ingredients, food manufacturers start the process by literally immersing soybeans in a hexane “bath.” A common additional technique to further separate out the protein is bathing soy flakes in aqueous alcohols such as methanol, ethanol, or isopropyl alcohol. Processors also commonly use acid and alkaline solutions to adjust the pH, and use high heat and high pressure to texturize the soy protein.

Organic soy protein has been available for years, but food manufacturers have been hesitant to use it because of its lower protein content and increased cost. Hexane is very effective at extracting oil, and the alternative heating method and expeller press techniques used, to date, to produce organic soy protein isolate have resulted in a product with a lower protein content. Hexane-extraction results in soy protein isolate containing close to 99% protein, whereas mechanical extraction results in protein levels closer to 92% to 94% (but never lower than 90%)."

From: "Behind the Bean The Heroes and Charlatans of the Natural and Organic Soy Foods Industry"