Creating meat analogues

As the appetite for plant-based protein grows, the focus on meat analogues and processing technologies is also increasing.

High-humidity extrusion technology is widely used to obtain a fibrous meat-like structure from vegetable proteins. Despite many studies on optimising the extrusion process to adjust the taste and texture characteristics of meat analogues, research in the field of adjusting the taste of extruded meat analogues with high moisture content is limited, according to IKBFU.

The characteristics of vegetable meat analogues can be changed or improved with food additives, such as wheat gluten. Now, IKBFU Scientist Olga Babich, in association with researchers from China, has studied the effect of wheat gluten and different moisture contents on the flavour characteristics of meat analogues. They observed that meat analogues with higher wheat gluten content and lower moisture content had higher retention rates of the volatile flavour substances.

The findings are expected to help companies in the food industry to control the exposure of aromatic substances (esters, aldehydes, alkanes, alkenes, phenols, alcohols) in the technological process for producing extruded meat analogues.

“Since the second half of the 20th century, low moisture extrusion technology (with <35% humidity level) has been used to produce traditional analogues of meat with a spongy texture, and these products require hydration before consumption,” said IKBFU Scientist Olga Babich.

“The disadvantage of such products is the incomparability with meat in appearance and texture. In recent years, high humidity extrusion technology has been widely used to produce meat analogues and is considered a promising technology for producing a fibrous meat-like structure from vegetable proteins. Due to the relatively low temperatures and short cooking time that distinguish extrusion, amino acids are not destroyed.”

The results of the study were published in the article titled ‘Effects of material characteristics on the structural characteristics and flavor substances retention of meat analogs’ in the Food Hydrocolloids scientific journal.

Image caption: Dr Olga Babich. Image credit: Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University.