Triple ‘F’ takes bite out of human-food market
An Urbandale-based company is helping feed developing countries and provide better nutrition options for rich nations, but many people locally have the misconception that it is an animal-feed producer.
Triple “F” Inc., which was founded in 1961 as an animal feed and nutrition company, sold the animal feed business about 10 years ago and has evolved into a sophisticated global company with “leading-edge technology,” according to Leroy Hanson, president of Triple “F.”
“We developed a machine to fit the nutrition of the animal, and now we’re using that same technology to fit the nutrition of the human,” Hanson said.
Hanson is one of two – Wayne Fox is the other – of the company’s four original partners who have stayed with Triple “F” through its transformation into three divisions: Soy Creations, Insta-Pro International and PharmTech International. Now, Triple “F” has customers in 95 countries, and expects to serve even more people through its patented Insta-Pro technology and its newest business, Soy Creations, which uses a chemical-free method to produce non-hydrogenated soybean oil that has no transfatty acids and protein-rich soy flour that is low in carbohydrates.
“Researchers are trying to figure out how to get rid of the transfatty acids in oil by developing new varieties of soybeans,” Hanson said. “We’ve developed a non-chemical method that we can use with any beans and end up in the same place. What makes us different from Iowa State [University], for example, is that they are altering the seed to fit the process. We change the process to fit the existing seeds.”
Soy Creations, which has been in operation for about six months, uses Insta-Pro’s dry-extrusion technology, and is unique, Hanson said, in that it can process any variety of soybean, and it yields a product that is superior in taste to those currently on store shelves. Soy Creations has achieved these results with leadership from Wilmot Wijeratne, a Sri Lanka native who has done extensive research in the field of soy nutrition, most recently at the University of Illinois. Wijeratne, the managing director of Soy Creations, learned about Triple “F” in his studies of using soy products to feed developing nations.
“There’s all kinds of research, including research involving the equipment that this company had produced for a number of years,” Wijeratne said. “Even in the early stages, we could see that the soybean is not only for animals, but when processed, it can supply food for a lot of hungry people.”
The team at Triple “F” convinced Wijeratne to channel his talents beyond feeding the hungry to include developing products for feeding countries such as the United States, where people are battling obesity and other health problems related to poor eating habits and hereditary factors.
“We said, this is not just an Africa deal; people in the United States need to eat healthier,” Hanson said. “Wilmot joined us seven years ago to position us in the human- food business
The timing was right to enter the soy-food market, with numerous studies pointing to soy protein as an important component of a heart-healthy lifestyle. With a growing number of soy products on the market, Soy Creations wanted to ensure that its soy flour and soybean oil were superior. Before the production facility opened, Wijeratne helped identify ways to improve taste, which had been a barrier to getting consumers to make soy products a regular part of their diets.
“We deactivate some enzymes that are naturally present in the bean that produce some off-flavors,” Wijeratne said. “The flour that we produce is much, much better in flavor compared to soy flour coming out of the solvent process because we deactivate the enzymes that cause bad flavor.”
As a result, larger amounts of Soy Creation’s flour can be used in breads and baked goods without negatively affecting flavor. Regina Butler, the food research and development specialist for Soy Creations, said the soy flour produced by their company has a “very bland flavor, which is a good thing.”
“Many soy products people have tried have had a grassy or beany flavor,” Hanson said. “You would have to add all kinds of things to cover that up. With our product, it’s just a matter of adding the flavor you want.”
Soy Creations is a “toll manufacturing” company, producing ingredients – flour or oil – that are purchased by other food companies for use in the manufacturing of retail products.
“We made the decision to toll process everything,” Hanson said. “We work with other customers who do the marketing. If they want us to source the beans, we’ll do that to their specifications, with GMO or non-GMO beans.”
Soy Creations has partnered with Spectrum Foods Inc. of Springfield, Ill., to produce the Premier Harvest product line, which uses soy flour in box mixes for cookies, pancakes and other baked goods, and textured soy protein in meals, such as meatless chili, which has been approved by the NASA space program as one of the food choices astronauts can select to take into space. Premier Harvest products are also available at local Hy-Vee Inc. and Dahl’s supermarkets.
Soy Creations sends its oil to a Michigan refinery to be prepared for sale. Locally, Waterfront Seafood Market and Restaurant has exclusively used the refined soybean oil in its food preparation for a couple of years and has had a great response from its customers, according to Shawn Hanke Sr., the seafood and retail buyer for the restaurant.
“Our customers have enjoyed it so much that we’ve had many ask us if they would be able to purchase it, so now we sell it, too,” Hanke said. “Our customers are very health conscious and very flavor conscious, so the soybean oil is an excellent fit for us.”
Hanke said Soy Creations’ oil also has twice the shelf life of traditional hydrogenated oil, which also makes it a good purchase, but more important, it retains the taste of the fish better in cooking.
“It keeps the tastes of the fish separate, and doesn’t seem to transfer tastes as much as others do,” he said.
Along with providing more healthful options for Americans, Triple “F” has an international presence, with offices in Europe, Asia, Australia and Mexico. The Insta-Pro equipment and technology has been implemented across the world. The company’s success in helping other countries introduce soybeans and start processing plants similar to Soy Creations in Urbandale to formulate soybeans into nutritious products suggests that more growth is yet to come, Hanson said.
“We have a technology that can be started in countries that don’t have a lot of money or may not know how to raise soybeans,” he said. “We ultimately have the best of both worlds. For one, we have a product that will help feed starving people in underdeveloped countries, and we have a product that is superior in nutritional value to help [people in] rich countries live longer.”