Food Experts Turn Okara Wastes into Flour for a Soy-Processing Company in NCR, DOST-NCR Funds Collaborative R&D Project
It was a long struggle for Queenbee Enterprises to process okara or soybean curd, a by-product of soybean milk processing, producing tons of wastes every day.
The DOST-NCR facilitated industry dialogues and brainstorming sessions between the Queenbee Enterprises and experts from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines to come up with a solution to process okara wastes into soy flour which may later be used in producing pastries, specifically pancake premix. DOST-NCR funded the project titled “Development of Optimum Dehydration Process and Characterization of Soy-Residue for By-Product Utilization” to process okara wastes.
This project aims to determine the optimum dehydration process parameters for soy residue, and characterize the physicochemical, microbiological and functional properties of wet and dried okara generated from soymilk production. Dried okara derived from these tests will be optimized for food application.
Outputs of the project are an optimized process of producing soy residue flour, and a developed formulation for pancake premix which will later be marketed by Queenbee Enterprises as a part of its product line.
By: Bianca Claudette R. Canlas, SCCU
