SOYBEAN MEAL Soybean meal, because of its high content of nutritionally valuable proteins, became an indispensable ingredient for animal feed. It can be said that the economic production of animals is impossible without properly processed soybean meal. One of the major processing requirements of a good quality soybean meal is proper heat treatment: on one hand it is necessary to de-activate all anti-nutritional factors which are naturally present in the soybean but on the other hand, over-heating decreases the digestibility of the protein. This heat treatment process is normally called "toasting".