REPORT SCOPE
INTRODUCTION
The U.S. market for soy-based foods continues to evolve as research expands opportunities in mainstream retail outlets. The surge of interest in soy and the functional and nutritional benefits that it contributes to a healthful diet has, in turn, resulted in the need to understand the social, economic, regulatory and technological trends that either hinder or promote manufacturers’ sales to food and beverage processors and retailers.
This BCC technical market study explores some of the opportunities that advancements in the field are projected to bring. It provides an in-depth analysis of the U.S. market for this segment of the food industry.
A growing body of clinical and scientific research supports the theory that soy foods provide protection against major diseases. Mainstream consumers have become acquainted with soy’s health benefits and their interest is creating demand for soy-containing foods, particularly engineered ones that mimic the taste and appearance of the foods they are replacing. In the minds of many consumers, engineered soy-containing foods represent the entire market for soy in foods; however, that is not the case.
Over half of processed foods contain soy in some form (oils, isolates, concentrates, etc.). This report, therefore, considers them as staple soycontaining foods, in what is an important yet often overlooked market segment.
SCOPE OF STUDY
The report contains:
- Identification of the various types of soycontaining foods and the ingredients used in them
- Descriptions of the functional and nutritional value of the foods
- Tracking of trends and developments with current market applicability
- Current and projected (through 2008) market values for engineered and staple soycontaining foods and the ingredients used in them
- Analysis of the structure of the soy-containing foods industry
- The data necessary to evaluate U.S. economic indicators regarding the industry.
METHODOLOGY AND INFORMATION SOURCES
The methodology employed to obtain the data found in Engineered and Staple Soy-Containing Foods comes from extensive telephone interviews with key executives of the leading U.S. companies involved in the production of soy ingredients and soy foods. The expert and reasoned comments of these sources, combined with information gleaned from trade journals, patents, company reports, press releases, product literature, and government documents germane to soy-containing foods production, provide the basis for the contents of this report. Where precise information was not available, a consensus was made using a formulation of reasonable assumptions and estimates based on historical data.
BCC WORK CREDENTIALS
The author of this report, Norma Corbitt, has 18 years of experience as a BCC editor and project analyst. Ms. Corbitt has written several other BCC reports, including Separations in Biotechnology, Advanced Drug Delivery Systems and Advanced Inorganic Membranes. She is the editor of BCC's monthly newsletter, Food Ingredient News, and the past editor of two others, Flame Retardancy News and Waste Technology News. She has also served as an assistant editor on High Tech Separations News (now Analytic Separations News), Membrane & Separations Technology News, and Battery and EV Technology News.
ANALYSTS CREDENTIALS
Research analyst Norma Corbitt has extensive experience as a technical writer and researcher. Since 1986, Ms. Corbitt has been writing BCC technical market reports related to the specialty chemical and food industries. She is the editor of Food Ingredients News and has contributed to Battery and EV Technology News and other BCC newsletters. B.A., English/Mass Media/Psychology, Houston Baptist University
