3-D printed meat alternatives based on pea and single cell proteins and hydrocolloids: effect of paste formulation on process-induced fibre alignment and structural and textural properties

Extrusion-based 3D food printing can be used as an alternative structuring technique to traditional extrusion processing for creating meat-like structures. This study focused on 3-D food printing to generate structures analogous to meat by using various combinations of texturized pea protein fibrils, microbial Single Cell Protein (SCP) and hydrocolloids locust bean gum and/or sodium alginate. Simple moulding was utilized as benchmarking to better understand the 3D printing-induced structural effects. To gain understanding of the interactions between proteins of different origin (plant and SCP) and with hydrocolloids, structural, textural and rheological properties were analysed. Oscillatory stress sweeps of all printing pastes revealed elastic-dominant rheological behaviour (G’ 4000-6000 Pa) with a defined yield stress (25-60 Pa) explaining their printability and shape stability. X-ray microtomography of ion-crosslinked analogues showed a printing-induced preferential alignment of fibrils in the direction of nozzle movement, while moulding led to a random orientation. Textural characterization via bi-directional cutting tests demonstrated higher cutting force in transversal (FT) over longitudinal (FL) direction in 3D-printed samples and equal forces in moulded samples. The anisotropy index (AI=FT/FL) of printed samples ranged between 1.4-2.5, indicating anisotropic texture, and 0.8-1 for moulded samples indicating isotropic texture. This study demonstrated the applicability of paste-extrusion in generating anisotropic structures analogous to meat by process-induced fibril alignment. The results support further development of 3D food printing technology in design of sustainable meat alternatives resembling whole-muscle meat

Nondestructive Imaging of Cellular Solid Foods

The successful use of XMT in other fields of science (e.g., medical, agricultural, biological and material science) has led its further application in food structure characterization. Cellular solid structures have great impact on sensory properties and associated with also textural-mechanical properties. XMT is able to present rigorous quantitative information related to cellular architecture of solid foods such as cell size and distribution, cell wall thickness, cell connectedness and porosity both in 2D and 3D. The accurate microstructural characterization of cellular solid foods would also help food engineers and scientists to understand and develop links between structure–mechanical–sensory properties. Based on these and the use of numerical simulation technologies together with modelling approaches can be used to design novel food structures and textures. Furthermore, the noninvasive XMT technology does not require tedious sample preparation methods compared to other microscopy technologies such as light microscopy or confocal scanning light microscopy. The continuous development in data processing and equipment manufacturing technologies will enable the use of XMT technology for in-line or on-line food structure analysis during processing.Peer reviewe

Effect of extrusion processing parameters on structure, texture and dietary fibre composition of directly expanded wholegrain oat-based matrices

Oat flour mixed with 30 g/100 g rice flour was extruded with a twin-screw extruder using a central composite orthogonal design. Temperatures (120 °C,140 °C, 160 °C) and moisture (14.5 g/100 g, 17.7 g/100 g, 20.6 g/100 g) were adjusted during extrusion, while screw speed was kept constant (400 rpm). Extrudates were analysed for structure (expansion, density, microstructure), texture (hardness), β-glucan (molecular weight and extractability), as well as fibre content. Expansion varied between 250 and 329%, density between 165 and 457 kg/m3 and hardness between 27 and 64 N. The response surface model showed that more expanded, less dense and less hard extrudates were achieved at low moisture, while high temperature resulted in lower density and hardness. Significant differences in β-glucan extractability were observed depending on extrusion conditions, with values ranging between 0.64 and 1.31 g/100 g. β-glucan extractability correlated with positively with porosity, and negatively with moisture content during extrusion, cell wall thickness and density. The results indicate that conditions that produce a more porous, crispier structure, also increases β-glucan extractability.ISSN:0460-1173ISSN:0023-6438ISSN:1096-112

Synergistic use of fermentation and extrusion processing to design plant protein-based sausages

The synergistic effect of lactic acid fermentation and high-moisture extrusion processing of pea protein on the microbiological and sensory properties of plant-based sausages was investigated. Plant-based sausages were formed by combining fermented pea protein concentrate (PPC) biomass with high-moisture extruded pea protein isolate (PPI). Pea protein concentrate (PPC) was fermented with Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum to improve the perceived structure, texture, and flavour (specifically via expression of glutamic acid which is connected to umami flavour) of plant-based sausages.The sausages were prepared by stuffing the mixture of extruded PPI and fermented PPC (addition level 70:30) inside vegetarian casings followed by steam cooking. After preparation and cooking of the sausages, a trained sensory panel evaluated the intensities of ten selected attributes defining the flavour, odour, colour, and texture. In addition, dry matter content, acidification, microbial quality, and glutamate contents were analysed.The results demonstrated that fermentation decreased the pea-like odour and improved the texture of the sausages. In addition, yeast-like odour and umami taste were observed. The study was able to demonstrate novel clean-label processing approaches by combined fermentation and extrusion to generate in-situ meat-like flavour and texture based on plant protein ingredients

Effects of structural and textural properties of brittle cereal foams on mechanisms of oral breakdown and in vitro starch digestibility

This study was jointly funded by the Academy of Finland (Academy Professorship, Kaisa Poutanen - grant number 131460) and by the Raisio Plc's Research Foundation (personal grant to Syed Ariful Alam, grant decisions of 2016).Structural and textural properties as well as the dietary fibre content of solid cereal foams influence the oral breakdown of structure, bolus formation and digestibility. The aimof this studywas to investigate howstructural differences of solid cereal foams (puffs vs. flakes) affect in vivo chewing and in vitro starch digestion. Four extruded puffs and flakes were produced from endosperm rye flour by extrusion processing without or with 10% rye bran (RB) addition. Extruded puffs and flakes were masticated by fifteen healthy females and the process was monitored using electromyography. Extruded puffs were more porous than flakes (97% vs 35%). The two productswere also significantly different (p b 0.05) in their structural and textural properties such as expansion, hardness, density and crispiness. A negative correlation was observed between hardness and crispiness index (p b 0.05, r=−0.950) and density and porosity (p b 0.05, r=−0.964). Addition of 10% RB had a significant effect on structural, textural and mastication properties both for puffs and flakes. Mastication of puffs required less total work than flakes (204 vs. 456%) and theywere degraded to smaller particles than flakes during mastication. Irrespectively of the considerable differences in structure, texture and oral disintegration process, no significant (p b 0.05) differenceswere observed between puffs and flakes (86.4 vs. 85.1) in terms of starch hydrolysis index. RB addition increased the hydrolysis index of puffs and flakes to 89.7 and 94.5, respectively, which was probably attributable to the increased number of particles in the bolus.Peer reviewe

Effect of drying and extrusion processing on physical and nutritional characteristics of bilberry press cake extrudates

Mild drying and extrusion processing of side streams from berry juice production can enable retention of valuable compounds in the food chain and reduce waste production. The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of using hot air (HA) and microwave assisted hot air (MWHA) drying combined with extrusion for conversion of bilberry press cake into value-added extruded food products. Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) press cake was dried at 40 °C by HA and MWHA drying to a moisture content of 17% (w/w). A twin screw extruder (average feed rate 72 g/min, temperature profile 135-128-89-69 °C) was used to extrude products containing organic wholegrain rye flour and 10 % or 25 % dried bilberry press cake powder. A consumer panel (n = 15) evalutaed four extrudates on hedonic and Just-about-rigth (JAR) scales, with a mian focus on textrue properties. The results indicate that different drying tecniques implied a difference in processing time (40 % reduction with MWHA drying). However, the retention of total phenolics, physical characteristics and sensory attributes of extruded snacks containing bilberry powders were independent of drying techniques. In sum, powder of bilberry press cake can be incorporated in cereal extruded snacks with enhanced phenolic content and potential for palatable sensory properties

Meat- and plant-based products induced similar satiation which was not affected by multimodal augmentation

Little is known about how plant-based products influence satiation compared to corresponding meat-based products. As augmented reality (AR) intensifies sensory experiences, it was hypothesized to improve satiation. This study compared satiation between intake of meatballs and plant-based balls and plant-based balls intensified with AR for visual, olfactory, and haptic sensory properties. Intake order of the meatballs, plant-based balls, and augmented plant-based balls, eaten on separate days, was randomized. Satiation was measured from twenty-eight non-obese adults as ad libitum intake of the balls and extra snacks, and as subjective appetite sensations. Liking and wanting to eat the products were also investigated.There were no differences between the products in satiation. Before tasting the augmented plant-based balls were less liked than the meatballs (p = 0.002) or plant-based balls (p = 0.046), but after eating the first ball or eating the ad libitum number of balls the differences in liking disappeared. Wanting evaluations were similar for each product and decreased during eating (p < 0.001). A group of participants susceptible to AR was found (n = 11), described by decreased intake when augmentation was applied. Among the sub-group, wanting to eat the augmented balls was lower before tasting (p = 0.019) and after eating the first ball (p = 0.002) and appetite was less suppressed after eating the balls ad libitum (p = 0.01), when compared to non-susceptible participants.We conclude that meatballs and plant-based balls were equal in inducing satiation, and multisensory augmentation did not influence satiation. However, the augmentation decreased liking evaluations before tasting. Further studies are needed to explore differences between consumer groups in susceptibility to augmentation