Browsing by Person "Herz, Eva Maria"

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Plant protein gels as binders in meat product analogues
(2023) Herz, Eva Maria; Weiss, Jochen
In response to concerns about the environmental, ethical, and health impacts of meat consumption, plant-based meat analogues have become an important development in the food industry. To obtain prodcts with similar texture and nutritional properties, three major components of meat products (fibrous meat particles, adipose tissue, and myofibrillar meat proteins) need to be replicated. Furthermore, different binding mechanisms, such as heat, acid, and enzyme induction, and drying, are used to create coherent matrices for plant-based meat analogues. In Chapter 2, the study focuses on the use of soy protein gels as binders, with a particular emphasis on a combination of transglutaminase (TG) induced gels. The results indicate that TG-induced soy protein gels offer promising binding strength for meat analogues. Chapter 3 explores a combination of TG and slowly acidifying glucono-delta-lactone (GDL) as a binder, showing that this approach results in acidic gels with enhanced textural properties, making it suitable for acidic meat analogue products like fermented sausages. Chapter 4 applies previously studied soy protein gels as binders for sausage analogues. The research indicates that the choice of binder content influences the cohesiveness and hardness of the sausage analogues, with drying having a significant impact on hardness. In Chapter 5, hydrated gluten is used as a binder, leading to increased cohesiveness and springiness with rising binder content. It emphasizes the importance of adhesive properties between the binder and other particles in achieving desirable meat analogue texture. Overall, the thesis underscores that plant protein suspensions can serve as effective binders for meat analogue products, provided they exhibit both sufficient hardening through network formation and adhesive properties to ensure cohesiveness. It also discusses various formulation and process-based approaches to modulate the texture of meat analogue products.