Alternative Protein and Plant-based Meat

High moisture extrusion is considered as key technology for producing plant-based meat. It presents a continuous process comprising a high range of adjustable parameters that allow to achieve different textures. To obtain plant-based products with a texture perception similar to meat, the aim of extrusion is to impart an anisotropic, fibrous and gel-like structure into plant proteins. Although this process is frequently applied for producing plant-based meat, many consumers still lack variety in marketed products, especially in terms of meat types and protein sources. To cope with this demand, food companies continue to develop new ingredients and products with the goal to mimic the taste and texture of meat. This contribution will highlight, how the compact and modular design of Thermo Scientific twin-screw extruders can enable companies in food industry to save resources on material testing and accelerate process development. Examples will be given on how our processing equipment can be applied to create a wide range of meat-like textures.

Successful extrusion processing is highly dependent upon the specific machines used, configurations of screws, barrels, and dies on those machines, as well as optimizing operational settings for your specific blends. To further complicate matters, the moisture content and chemical composition of your blends will impact how you set and run your extrusion system. The goal of this presentation is to discuss some of the fundamental chemistry that you need to understand, and which will impact your ability to successfully extrude various ingredient blends. Specifically, proteins, starches, and lipids will be covered. These three components play a large role in the success or failure of extrusion operations, and understanding their fundamentals is a key step to a better understanding of your blends.

Proteins have many functions in foods. Beyond their nutritional properties, they play a wide range of structure, texture, and flavor roles. These roles can be modified with other ingredients, but consumers increasingly desire short ingredient statements with familiar and easy-to-identify components. Further, many households want ingredients in their foods that add a functional benefit such as beneficial bioactive compounds like polyphenols. Along with their bioactive properties, polyphenols are known to modify protein function.  

Polyphenols are ubiquitous plant compounds that offer many potential health benefits including anti-inflammatory properties, cardiovascular benefits, and chemoprotective effects. The healthful perception of foods such as cranberries, dark chocolate, and red wine is derived primarily from the benefits of polyphenols.  

The affinity of proteins and polyphenols for one another results in protein-polyphenol interactions that can be leveraged to expand protein functionality. There are a range of potential impacts of protein-polyphenol interactions based on the specific proteins and polyphenols interacted, as well as the conditions under which they interact. This talk will focus on sorting through those potentials and identifying processing conditions that produce desired results.

Meat analogs are becoming more common as the desire for plant-based diets increases. Recent interest has been focused on encompassing the appearance and taste of meat counterparts in certain meat analogs, such as ground meat, burger patties, or sausage. An important part of encompassing the appearance is color, and many protocols used in the meat industry and are being adopted in the plant-based meat space. Visible absorption spectroscopy is a common technique used to measure things like protein, calcium, or iron content in both meat and meat analogs, and reflectance can be used with advanced UV-Vis instruments and accessories to measure color with CIE. Here, we describe some of these methods and the ways in which Thermo Scientific GENESYS UV-Vis Spectrophotometers can simplify your workflows.

There is a growing demand for alternative meat, dairy, and snack foods generated from plant-based protein sources. However, consumers still expect these novel products to look and feel like their animal-based originals. Rheological measurements can be used to quantify the structural and mechanical properties of these newly developed food products. For example, a rheometer can assess the flow behavior of dairy alternatives like plant-based milks and yogurts as well as evaluate the viscoelastic properties of meat analogues and plant-based cheeses. In addition, modern rheometers can be equipped with normal force sensors, allowing them to conduct texture analysis and even compressibility tests. This presentation will provide examples of how rheology can be used to better quantify the structure and texture of plant-based food products and extrudates.

Extrusion is a scalable, effective mechanical process that can create meat analogues with fibrous textures, thus enhancing the taste and texture of alternative protein products. One potential bottleneck for consumer acceptability is that extrusion processing adds to conceptions that alternative protein products are “highly processed” and, therefore, unhealthy. In reality, literature studies demonstrate that extrusion cooking enhances protein digestibility, reduces antinutrient content, and can reduce ingredient allergenicity. This talk will review studies that demonstrate the effects of extrusion on plant protein digestibility and nutrition. There will also be an emphasis on research gaps that should be further explored to demonstrate the benefits and potential pitfalls of extrusion cooking for the production of meat analogues.