© UnknownMany popular veggie burgers are made with hexane-containing processed soy.
Many Veggie Burgers, Nutrition Bars and Other Soy Foods Contain Hexane Soy-based foodstuffs like veggie burgers and nutrition bars are a go-to source of protein and generally considered "health foods." We eat them because we believe they are a healthy alternative to meat and because soy foods have a reputation for being produced in a more environmentally friendly or sustainable fashion than animal sources of protein.
But the benefits of highly processed forms of soy protein - to people or the environment - was called into question by a November 2010 report from the
Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit which claims that non-organic soy protein is commonly extracted from the soybeans by literally bathing the beans in n-hexane, a chemical byproduct of petroleum refining.
Even popular brands of nutrition bars, veggie burgers and other meat alternatives marketed as "natural" are often guilty of this practice unless they are specifically labeled "USDA Organic."
Soybeans were originally introduced to U.S. farmers in the 1930s from Southeast Asia where they were traditionally treated with hot water to yield soy milk and tofu or else fermented to obtain products like soy sauce, miso and tempeh. Soybeans were initially grown in the U.S. for use as soy cooking oil which was extracted mechanically (through pressure), and the protein-rich residue was and is still used as animal feed.
By the 1950s, soy oil was the most popular vegetable oil in the U.S., though rapeseed oil (canola) later surpassed it in popularity.
However, chemical extraction was applied to soybean processing in the latter half of the 20th century to derive the various protein derivatives now added to many human foods: soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate, and textured soy protein. The first step in obtaining any of these is the chemical bath which extracts the soy oil, leaving behind "defatted" soy flour which undergoes further processing into the different forms of soy protein incorporated into foods.
Comment: It's not just potatoes that are the culprit, but eating a diet high in carbohydrates. For more information on the link between carbohydrates and obesity read the review of Gary Taubes book Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It.