A major study has been completed that compared the composition of various soybean meals in export trade. One hundred sixty-six samples of soybean meal were collected from feed formulation facilities in China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Tunisia and Turkey. The meal samples were ground, thoroughly mixed and sub-sampled for chemical analyses. The sub-samples were coded and provided to commercial laboratories for chemical analyses. The analyses were adjusted to a 12-percent moisture basis for comparison. The results of the meal analyses were as follows:

The results showed that the quality of U.S. soybean meal was high compared to other countries. Protein solubility, an indication of the digestibility of the protein was consistently higher in the meals of U.S. origin. The higher quality of the U.S. originated meals comes from the higher digestibility plus lower fiber levels and consistently high amino acid levels. The lower fiber level in U.S. meals will probably be reflected in higher energy values. The standard deviations (not shown) for U.S. soybean meal values were generally lower compared to meals from other countries, indicating that U.S. meal is a more consistent and uniform product.

Comment: U.S. soybean growers through the United Soybean Board have funded a major program, "Better Bean Initiative", as a way to increase the total protein content and key amino acids in U.S. soybeans. This program is striving to produce a soybean meal desired by feed formulators in all parts of the world.

Baize, John. 1999. Global soybean meal analysis project. Conducted for the Quality Committee of the United Soybean Board. John C. Baize and Associates, 7124 Carol Lane, Falls Church, VA 22042-3714.