According to the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, global food demand will grow by 70 percent or more by 2050, along with a significant need for protein — an essential nutrient for human health. Maintaining current protein production levels would cause strain on land, water and fossil fuel resources.
Soy protein is a far more cost effective and environmentally conservative protein resource. Food production has attracted attention from the global community due to its demand on large amounts of energy and natural resources. More customers are now evaluating the environmental footprint their products have and the number of resources used. Many people now make decisions about what they eat based upon this information. When evaluating the environmental impact of various foods, soy protein is a sustainable solution in the following production areas.
Soy uses far less water than other animal-derived proteins such as milk, meat and eggs. This has the effect of saving over more than four million gallons of water for each ton of soybeans produced.
Virtual water trade to Japan and in the world, T. Oki, M. Sato, A. Kawamura, M. Miyake, S. Kanae, and K. Musiake
A fundamental way to examine the environmental cost of food production methods is to evaluate the total energy use involved in production. Soy is an efficient source of protein based on return of energy use compared with proteins from other sources.
"Diet, Energy and Global Warming"; Gidon Eshel and Pamela A. Martin; Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (December 2005)
Soybeans produce more pounds of usable protein per acre of farmland than all other forms of complete protein. When comparing land impacted by production and end product, soy protein offers a protein solution that is 17 times more effective.
USDA; FAO/WHO/UNICEF Protein Advisory Group (2004)
Today, many companies and agriculture organizations are continuing to work toward increased sustainability and efficiencies within food manufacturing and production.
Solae supports continued efforts and encourages all industries to focus on improved sustainability to serve the expanding global population and meet consumer protein choices.