News Release

For release: 09-01-2004
Contact: Vivan Jennings, ASOYIA™ LLC, (319) 931-3121, vmjennings@farmtel.net

ASOYIA™ to Market New Heart Healthy Soy Oil

WINFIELD, Iowa – ASOYIA LLC, a newly formed company in Winfield, Iowa, will begin marketing its brand of heart-healthy, trans fat free soybean oil to customers nationwide in November.

The new oil contains only 1 percent linolenic (lin o LEN ic) acid, a component of soybean oil that causes it to become stale or rancid over time. To extend its freshness and useful life in frying applications, soybean oil is hydrogenated. The chemical process of hydrogenation creates trans fatty acids in the oil.

Trans fats raise LDL (bad) cholesterol levels in the blood and lower HDL (good) cholesterol. In January 2006, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will require manufacturers to list the amount of trans fatty acids on food labels.

ASOYIA™ trans fat free oil is an excellent alternative to hydrogenated oils for the food industry,” says Vivan Jennings, chief executive officer of ASOYIA LLC.

The new soybean oil is a product of research by Iowa State University agronomists and food scientists. Walter Fehr, a Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture, and Earl Hammond, emeritus University Professor of food science and human nutrition, started working on the project in the late 1960s. By the early 1990s, they had isolated three soybean genes that control the linolenic acid trait. Eventually, their research lowered linolenic acid content from the 7 percent in conventional soybean oil to the 1 percent in the ASOYIA™ oil.

The 1 percent linolenic oil was tested last year by Pamela White, University Professor of food science and human nutrition and interim dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences at Iowa State. She found the oil to have superior flavor stability when compared to other soybean oils tested.

“In extensive tests conducted by food services and restaurants, the 1 percent linolenic oil lasted 25-33 percent longer in frying applications than other current premium frying oils,” Jennings said. “The fried products stay crispier longer and taste the same as those fried in hydrogenated soybean oil.” The new oil also contains less saturated fat than some other alternative frying oils. “The higher levels of saturated fats now found in alternative trans free oils may be as big an issue as trans fats,” he said.

Jennings believes ASOYIA™ oil has a competitive advantage in frying oil applications. “We will be directing our marketing efforts to businesses where fried foods are featured on the menu. These foods can be marketed by restaurants as a more heart-healthy menu item than when they were fried in oils high in saturated or trans fats,” he said.

Interested food industries can contact Jennings at (319) 931-3121 or send e-mail to vmjennings@farmtel.net. Production of the new soybean is being contracted for the 2005 crop year. Farmers who are interested in growing the soybean also should contact Jennings.