Researchers use soybean hulls to produce healthier fried foods

By Lee Joon-seung
SEOUL, Jan. 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korean researchers said Wednesday they have
developed a new food manufacturing process to make low-calorie doughnuts, potato
snacks and instant noodles.

The process that uses soybean hulls has been shown to effectively lower residual
fat by 24-36 percent, creating healthier products, the state-run Korea Food
Research Institute said.
It said soybean hulls, which are mostly used as animal feed despite good dietary
qualities, are "attached" to particles in ordinary frying batters, such as flour,
before deep fat frying.
"Employing an air treatment process commonly used by pharmaceutical companies and
the ceramics industry, the soybean hulls are made to envelop individual flour
particles and other key ingredients so they cannot be shaken off," said Park
Dong-june, the researcher in charge of the project.
He said substituting 5 percent of the total volume of ingredients used to make
potato snacks helped reduce residual fat content by 24.4 percent, while levels in
doughnuts can be reduced by 35.8 percent when soybean hulls make up 10 percent of
the total batter.
In the case of instant noodles, the reduction was lower at 5-10 percent in
preliminary laboratory tests, with more wide-scale experiments planned for this
year.
In addition, the principle research scientist said that while there was some
discoloration, the taste, smell and texture of foods were not affected to a
noticeable degree.
The findings were published in the Journal of Food Science, LWT-Food Science and
Technology, U.S. and Spanish food manufacturers showing interest, Park said.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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