As far as research, development and marketing goes, they might as well be Iowa’s All-Star team.

Iowa State University, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. and Hy-Vee, Inc. have collaborated to bring a new product to Iowa consumers.

The product, LoSatSoy, is the first low-saturated-fat soybean oil to be produced in the United States.

Sources from all three agree this is a breakthrough in the area of technology transfer.

The technology for the product started at ISU. Walter Fehr, professor of agronomy, and Earl Hammond, professor of food science and human nutrition, developed the technology using traditional plant breeding methods.

“We genetically changed the whole soybean to reduce the saturated fat content,” Fehr said.

He said this is a breakthrough because they were able to convert university research findings into products demanded by consumers.

Hammond said the two were encouraged by a company from Canada named Canola.

“Canola had come out with a product that reduced the fat in soybeans and really had a corner on the market,” Hammond said.

“We knew we could match and even surpass this mark,” he said.

LoSatSoy does just that.

Fehr said the saturated fat in their product is nearly half of what is in normal soybeans.

According to a press release, LoSatSoy has only one gram of saturated fat per serving while still retaining the flavor and golden color consumers seem to look for.

“Our product can be used for everything conventional soybean oil is used for,” Fehr said.

Most notably, this includes vegetable liquid, salad dressing and mayonnaise.

The two professors have been working together since 1968.

“We developed the idea of a low-saturated fat soybean in 1987,” Fehr said.

“I wasn’t confident it would work until 1996, after it had passed all the tests,” Fehr said.

After Fehr and Hammond were positive they had a sure thing, they approached Pioneer about the commercial development of LoSatSoy. Bob Brcka, director of process development for Pioneer, said Pioneer and ISU have had a strong working relationship for years.

“It was natural for us to do the commercial development because of this working arrangement,” Brcka said.

Pioneer’s role in the product is the actual processing of it.

“We licensed the technology and then received royalties to produce the seeds,” Brcka said.

The second part of the team was in place.

Then, earlier this year, ISU and Pioneer approached Ruth Mitchell, director of communications, at Hy-Vee.

The plan was for Hy-Vee to head up the marketing side of the project.

“For some time now, we have been interested in getting involved with a project involving the technology transfer process,” Mitchell said. She said the project was exactly what they were looking for, and they were very eager to join the collaboration.

The all-star lineup was complete.

Mitchell said LoSatSoy is available in seven stores in the Cedar Rapids area.

“It has not been in the stores long enough to form any concrete results but it is getting a lot of attention,” she said.

And now that all parts of the team are in place, Mitchell said things look very promising.