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Food firms test fry Pioneer's trans fat–free soybean oil

Nature Biotechnology volume 28, pages 769–770 (2010)Cite this article

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A Corrigendum to this article was published on 13 October 2010

This article has been updated

The new soybean traits may help the biotech industry deliver on a two-decade-long promise: to develop crops with improved nutritional value. Until now, most commercialized biotech crops have been engineered with such traits as pest resistance and herbicide tolerance—traits that mostly benefit farmers rather than the food industry or consumers. “Heat stability and longer shelf life: these are the things that can light up the food industry, not reduced pesticides,” says Tom Hoban, a professor of food science at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

Pioneer is marketing its new soybean oil as an alternative to partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. For decades, food producers have relied on partially hydrogenated soybean oil because it retains its flavor at high cooking temperatures and for extended periods on the grocery store shelf. But the process of partial hydrogenation produces trans fatty acids, or trans fats, which are known to increase 'bad' low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and increase risk of coronary heart disease.

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Change history

  • 13 October 2010

    The version of the article originally published states that Monsanto petitioned the USDA for deregulation of two “soybean products with modified oil profiles, one with omega-3 fatty acids for nutrition and the other with enhanced texture and functionality, called high stearic acid soybeans.” The article should have stated that “Monsanto has petitioned for deregulation of Vistive Gold soybeans, with mono-unsaturated fat levels similar to that of olive oil, and saturated fat levels similar to canola oil, which would produce an oil more stable than regular soybean oil at high frying temperatures.” The high stearate soybeans are still in development. The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

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    Emily Waltz

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Waltz, E. Food firms test fry Pioneer's trans fat–free soybean oil. Nat Biotechnol 28, 769–770 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0810-769a

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