Activities of BIOLINTEC: Oils, proteins, flours

Our supplies

Our core activity, the heart of our trade, is producing oils and textured soya flours.

We have always maintained close ties to local and regional production sources, partly because of our farming origins and also because of our belief in organic ethics which favor local producers. Most of our sunflower, colza and soya suppliers are found nearby, limiting transportation costs. We have a strong desire to build partnerships with local groups and cooperatives.  For some products we favor long term contracts covering more than one year which associate production, processing and the final buyer in order to offer a fair price that is best adapted to the market.

Our partners are mostly cooperatives in southwest France that are equipped with storage sites that handle only organic products.

All of our equipment has always been used only for the production of organic foods. Today the know-how which we have acquired through the years and our familiarity with the organic farming community allow us to take our place among the specialists in soya protein and sunflower oil production.

Making Virgin Oils through Cold-Pressing : a Mechanical Process

Our sunflower, soya and colza oils are made from healthy seeds that have been selected, sorted and dried by the storage organization of our suppliers.

The uncooked seeds are milled by the traditional method using a continual screw press at a very slow speed in order to avoid overheating the oil. Today we know that overheating alters the precious enzymes that enable human bodies to assimilate fatty acids. The virgin oils produced by one unique cold pressing keep all their nutritional qualities and flavor and are destined to be either bottled or used, mostly uncooked, in other preparations such as sandwich spreads, marinades, salads, etc.

Deodorized Sunflower Oil

Deodorization is a process which allows us to remove a large part of the oil’s aromatic composants. Instead of using dissolvers, a simple injection of water vapor in a vacuum carries away the volatile substances. The organic quality is preserved and the final product is stable.

This oil has two advantages when it is used by processors and in industry:

  • Its taste, color and odor are neutral, unlike virgin oil. It is perfectly suitable for margarines, pastries and bakery goods.
  • It is suitable for cooking and can be heated to high temperatures for all kinds of preparations, both for fried and cooked dishes.

Soya proteins : Our Know-how

Many years of experimenting and sharing have allowed us to fabricate a product that is unique, both by its flavor and by its intrinsic qualities.

After some costly investments in our soya production line, we decided to shell the seeds in order to remove the impurities and undesirable substances found in the hulls. This additional operation guarantees a final product that is pure and allows a high concentration of proteins.

Thus the soya seeds are shelled and cold pressed using traditional methods.

On the one hand, the soya oil will be filtered and will keep its strong bean flavor, which is nevertheless very interesting because of its high lecithin content. The oil will be bottled or used in an industrial preparation.

On the other hand, we have obtained a defatted soya flour.

Under the combined actions of heat and pressure, using an extruder, a cooking mechanism, the soya flour will become textured because of its elasticity. It will then be expelled at high speeds through a spinneret. In this manner we can obtain chunks of different sizes, large, small and extra-small.

Cooking during the extrusion phase has the advantage of rendering the proteins easier to digest and of eliminating some factors which may not favor digestion. This is the case for trypsine, a digestive enzyme from the pancreas which helps to assimilate proteins.

It also permits to obtain a texture that can absorb different flavors and spices.

The protein content varies between 45 and 55 %, which places this product as high as any other in the list of meat substitutes.

Its texture being similar to that of animal protein, it lends itself to being used in all kinds of recipes, patties, steaks, stuffing, meat balls, etc.

Soya flours :

We also propose two kinds of flours for processors:

  • Micronized defatted soya flour is obtained from ground oilcakes, starting with shelled seeds that have been mechanically pressed. The product is raw and can be used in any preparation which requires cooking, such as pastries and cakes. It is also used to improve the quality of ground meat.
  • Toasted defatted soya flour is obtained from sifted particles of soya protein.

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