St. Louis, Missouri
September 20, 2007
Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) today announced an ongoing
collaboration with FOSS A/S to
develop more consistent tools to measure specific components in
soybean grain. The first product of this collaboration is a
calibration system used in near infrared grain analyzers. This
system is used to measure the linolenic acid content of soybeans
in order to distinguish grain that, when processed, will provide
food companies an oil that does not require hydrogenation.
This new calibration system includes software for near infrared
technology that will be used this harvest season. The software
has been developed over two years, by accumulating data from
commercialized industry low linolenic soybean products, such as
Vistive™ soybeans.
"Analytical tools like those being developed through our
relationship with FOSS have the potential to benefit a wide
range of users from growers to grain processors to food and feed
companies," said Pradip Das, Monsanto Crop Analytics. "Industry
standards for measuring low-linolenic content help make products
available which can reduce trans-fat in consumer diets without
burdensome time and cost constraints for the industry."
"Our collaboration with FOSS reinforces Monsanto's commitment to
the agricultural, food and feed industries to provide the
highest quality of seed, thereby generating the highest quality
of grain and subsequent products to enhance overall value of the
crops."
The recently developed low-linolenic calibration system will
allow grain elevators to more easily distinguish low-linolenic
soybeans from commodity soybeans. This distinction benefits
farmers who receive a premium for growing the low-linolenic
soybeans. Low-linolenic soybeans provide soybean processors an
opportunity to supply a modified soybean oil to help meet the
demand for trans-fat free vegetable oil among food companies and
restaurants. The new calibration assures that soybean processors
receive only soybean grain meeting the linolenic acid level
specifications that, when processed, yield a trans-fat free
vegetable oil.
"FOSS is very pleased to collaborate with Monsanto in developing
solutions that help processors and producers improve food and
feed production. We share the goal of producing solutions that
benefit the industry," said Peter Foss, President of FOSS A/S.
"We applaud Monsanto and FOSS for developing an analytical
standard for the industry to help bring healthier soybean oil to
the market," said John Becherer, CEO of QUALISOY. "Creating an
industry standard for measuring soybean components is important
to accurately measure the increasing component value of
soybeans."
This new calibration software for near infrared technology will
be used both at the processor level and in Monsanto's new Crop
Analytics Mobile Labs (CAML). The new mobile labs will serve as
a supplementary tool where processors need additional analytical
support. The mobile unit houses a gas chromatography technology
developed by Monsanto and the near infrared technology using the
calibration system developed through the Monsanto-FOSS
collaboration. The two systems together offer the fastest and
most robust system available to ensure accuracy.
The next steps of the ongoing collaboration will be to identify
analytical tools needed to measure other grain metrics or grain
characteristics which are in demand for the food, feed and fuel
industries.
Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of
technology-based solutions and agricultural products that
improve farm productivity and food quality.
FOSS is a leading global supplier of NIR and other advanced
solutions for quality and process control in the food, feed &
agricultural areas.
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