DuPont Co. and Bunge Ltd. say they believe they can launch late this year a biotech soybean seed that has high levels of oleic acid and contains 25 percent less saturated fat – giving it a health profile similar to olive oil.
Regulatory approval is pending, but the companies already are testing the product with food processors to gauge demand and pricing, a DuPont official said at the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit in Chicago in March.
Assuming the company wins regulatory approvals, "We're going to be launching this year ... the first transgenic product that has health benefits to humans," Jim Borel, DuPont group vice president for agriculture, said at the meeting. The oil offers better frying and other positive characteristics for food processing.
