Development Status and Existing Problems of Soybean Food Industry in China

Soybeans and soybean food are related to national food security, and nutrition and health of the public. Rationalizing and regulating the development relationship between soybean raw material production, food processing and utilization and food manufacturing modernization were very important for building a modern powerful socialist with Chinese characteristics. China is an important soybean producer, with total output always ranking fourth in the world, and more than 85% of domestic soybeans were used for food processing every year. However, at present, the development of China's soybean food industry were still many problems in the industrial chain, supply chain and value chain. In terms of raw material utilization, although the demand of domestic soybeans guarantees the supply of soybean food industry, the quality was difficult to meet the demand for special soybean raw materials. The mixed planting, mixed harvest and mixed use of soybeans were still the main problems faced by soybean food processing enterprises. In order to maintain a competitive position in the future, domestic specific soybean raw materials for food must have a clear positioning in variety selection, planting management, and production and marketing quality control. It was necessary to establish a unified and coordinated production, processing and sales system. And it was also necessary to improve China's soybean raw material standard system and to improve the raw material labeling and promotion system with unified soybean variety names and processed product commodity names. In terms of industrial processing, the modernization of soybean food processing had made great progress in recent years, but the in-depth excavation of traditional processes and the development of new technologies and new products were insufficient and the market segmentation of products with different functional demands for nutrition and health needed to be strengthened. In the future, the development of new technologies, new products, and new equipment for soybean food processing in China must take the road of combining with digital technology, continuously improve the digital and intelligent level of soybean food processing, and realize green manufacturing and modernization in the entire industrial chain of raw materials, storage and transportation, product production, manufacturing and circulation. © 2023 Beijing Technology and Business University, Department of Science and Technology. All rights reserved.