PEORIA MAGAZINE April 2022

PEORIA AG LAB PRODUCTS THAT CHANGED THE PLANET

• Penicillin – specifically its commercial mass production — launched the antibiotics era and is considered among the great medical advances ever. • If you’ve had an IV insert, you’ve had Dextran, a blood-volume enhancer/synthetic blood plasma administered on the Korean War and Vietnam War battlefields. • You don’t chew Xanthan gum, but it’s found in nearly every bottle of salad dressing, plus other grocery products. Its thickening properties also contribute to prolonging gas and oil well life. • A sweetener made from corn starch, high fructose corn syrup can be found in everything from soft drinks to breakfast cereals, from breads to countless canned goods. • A key ingredient in fortified foods, corn-soy-milk (CSM) blend came out of a process to convert corn and other whole grains to shelf-stable flours with improved nutritional quality. Widely used in impoverished, developing countries. • Super Slurper, an absorption technology, made disposable baby diapers a billion-dollar (make that billions) industry. • Oatrim increases the soluble fiber content in foods and has contributed to greater global health. • NCAUR research has led to key gains in the production of commercial biofuel, including ethanol. • Mycotoxin research helps to ensure the safety of the U.S. food supply. • Oilseed research has led to the production of paper from kenaf, cosmetics from jojoba and alternative rubber from guayule.

• NCAUR scientists have expanded the uses of soybean oil and its derivatives to include their use as adhesives for shoe soles, book bindings, solders to close seams in cans and packaging, moisture-proof coatings and paints for porous surfaces, nylon for electrical insulation and gears, bearings, cams and similar parts, extreme-pressure lubricants, etc. • Biobased motor oils made from the fatty acids of canola, lesquerella and other oilseed crops leave a lighter environmental footprint and have received American Petroleum Institute certification. • Beneficial fungus has led the fight against numerous insect pests including Japanese beetles, white grubs, wireworms, and mosquitoes that can transmit diseases such as Zika, dengue fever, and malaria. • Feruloyl Soy Glycerides 33, a cosmetics ingredient based on an ARS-developed personal care product cal led SoyScreen, absorbs the sun’s harmful ultraviolet light. • A bacter ia-based fermentat ion process to make xylitol from corn cobs, corn fiber, and other crop byproducts could open the door to a domestic source of the versatile sweetener for chewing gum, toothpaste, mouthwash, and other products. • Tunicamycin is a compound that could bolster the potency of penicillin-based antibiotics. • Fantastic Fantesk is the next wave in tasty cheeses with a fraction of the fat and cholesterol of traditional cheeses. • Soy-based biojet fuel can help lessen the aviation industry’s carbon impact.

46 APRIL 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE