Soya nuggets are somewhat very popular in sri Lanka as an alternative to vegetables. Many people eat them and there are plenty of restaurants and hotels where they serve soya nuggets also known as textured vegetable protein for their customers. In Sri Lanka, there are several soya meat producers and they produce the entire soya meat bulk for the demand of this country which is approximately between 500,000 to 700,000 Kgs per month.
First of all, as an experienced manufacturing professional, I have to say that these soya nuggets actually can’t replace a balanced diet with vegetables. So if you have the choice to eat vegetables, go with it. Soya nuggets are some kind of processed food. So there are some chemicals other than soya flour and water added to make the nuggets you consume. Caustic soda is one of these chemicals which most of the soya producers use for their production.
Why they use caustic soda for soya meat production?
The main reason for this is, when they use caustic soda for the soya production, they can easily get the soya nugget shape without a trouble. But if they use too much caustic soda, soya nuggets will have a texture like a sponge with lot of space inside the nugget.
However caustic soda is not a food grade material, so it is always harmful to consume this chemical. But I don’t think that there are soya nuggets available at the market without this chemical. Recently I read an article about soya meat production in India. There also they mentioned the use of caustic soda for the manufacturing process of the soya meat. So even in India, they use this chemical to get the good texture as I explained above.
Other than the above mentioned stuff, there might be weevils problem with soya meat because this is one of the major problems that many soya meat producing companies face. To avoid weevils, they use harmful chemical treatments such as chemical fog treatment, chemical tablet treatment which is not good for consumable soya flour.
As the last major reason, I would like to tell that some companies store too much soya flour at once because when they buy a huge bulk, they get discounts and can buy the soya flour bulk for a cheaper price. Once they buy a huge bulk, they have to keep the bulk at the factory for a longer time. Soya flour expires within a year, so sometimes when they produce the nuggets, the flour they use is already expired or will expire within few months. But on the packet, most companies display expire date for one year without considering the period they kept soya flour in their stores.
Other than that, I strongly believe the flavor, chili paste and sauce sachet packets available in the soya meat packet are also not good to consume because most of the time they may have too much of preservatives, harmful chemicals and hygiene issues.
Follow these steps if you eat soya meat
1. Don’t buy damaged packets
2. Don’t consume soya meat available at low standard restaurants and hotels
3. Don’t buy soya meat packets which are going to expire after 6 months or less. Try to buy new packets with nearly 8-12 months remaining for the expiry date.
4. Once you open the packet, put the soya meat in hot water for some time and repeat this process several times.
5. If you can add your own curry powder and flavors, don’t use the sachet packets available inside the soya meat packets
First of all, as an experienced manufacturing professional, I have to say that these soya nuggets actually can’t replace a balanced diet with vegetables. So if you have the choice to eat vegetables, go with it. Soya nuggets are some kind of processed food. So there are some chemicals other than soya flour and water added to make the nuggets you consume. Caustic soda is one of these chemicals which most of the soya producers use for their production.
Why they use caustic soda for soya meat production?
The main reason for this is, when they use caustic soda for the soya production, they can easily get the soya nugget shape without a trouble. But if they use too much caustic soda, soya nuggets will have a texture like a sponge with lot of space inside the nugget.
However caustic soda is not a food grade material, so it is always harmful to consume this chemical. But I don’t think that there are soya nuggets available at the market without this chemical. Recently I read an article about soya meat production in India. There also they mentioned the use of caustic soda for the manufacturing process of the soya meat. So even in India, they use this chemical to get the good texture as I explained above.
Other than the above mentioned stuff, there might be weevils problem with soya meat because this is one of the major problems that many soya meat producing companies face. To avoid weevils, they use harmful chemical treatments such as chemical fog treatment, chemical tablet treatment which is not good for consumable soya flour.
As the last major reason, I would like to tell that some companies store too much soya flour at once because when they buy a huge bulk, they get discounts and can buy the soya flour bulk for a cheaper price. Once they buy a huge bulk, they have to keep the bulk at the factory for a longer time. Soya flour expires within a year, so sometimes when they produce the nuggets, the flour they use is already expired or will expire within few months. But on the packet, most companies display expire date for one year without considering the period they kept soya flour in their stores.
Other than that, I strongly believe the flavor, chili paste and sauce sachet packets available in the soya meat packet are also not good to consume because most of the time they may have too much of preservatives, harmful chemicals and hygiene issues.
Follow these steps if you eat soya meat
1. Don’t buy damaged packets
2. Don’t consume soya meat available at low standard restaurants and hotels
3. Don’t buy soya meat packets which are going to expire after 6 months or less. Try to buy new packets with nearly 8-12 months remaining for the expiry date.
4. Once you open the packet, put the soya meat in hot water for some time and repeat this process several times.
5. If you can add your own curry powder and flavors, don’t use the sachet packets available inside the soya meat packets
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