Effect of enzyme inactivation on the extracted soybean meal and oil

The objective was prevention of lipoxygenase activity prior to oil extraction in order to obtain a meal of superior flavor quality and a crude oil of superior oxidative stability. Accordingly, experiments were performed in which soybeans were heated at various moisture contents and times to inactivate the enzyme system. Once the optimal conditions were determined, heat treated and raw beans were extracted in a laboratory system designed to simulate conditions in commercial solvent extraction and the component oil and meal were evaluated. Oxidative stability of the oil from heat‐treated beans was increased as determined by the Swift stability test and an organoleptic evaluation. Similarly, organoleptic blandness ratings of the heat‐treated meal were also superior to the meal produced from raw beans. It was concluded that steam heat treatment of soybeans prior to extraction was beneficial to quality of both oil and flake.