Soybean Meal is one of the major by-products of Soybean processing. Soybean Meal is an irregularly shaped flakes, pale-yellow or light brown colored and smells like roasted soybeans. Soybean meal is avery good source of protein for livestock and poultry. It is also used in health supplements, cosmetics manufacturing and developing antibiotics. In addition, Soybean Meal can also be put to a wide number of other uses. 

Soybean meal is usually classified on the basis of its crude protein content. High-protein types are obtained from dehulled seeds and contain 47-50% protein and 3% crude fiber (as fed basis). Other types of soybean meal include the hulls or part of the hulls and contain less than 47% protein and more than 6% crude fiber. In solvent-extracted soybean meals, the oil content is typically lower than 2% while it exceeds 3% in mechanically-extracted meals.

In terms of consumption, currently the soybean meal takes up over 60 percent of the world’s total consumption of protein meal. Soybean Meal is high in protein and has a good amino acid profile, making it ideal for all livestock. The rapid increase in animal based products stimulates the demand for quality protein feed. There are various types of animal feed available in the market like rapeseed and cottonseed meal, however both feeds cannot be used in feeds unless detoxified and therefore the most widely used quality meal in India is soybean meal.