Browsing by Subject "Binder"

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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.
Solidification of concentrated pea protein–pectin mixtures as potential binder
(2023) Moll, Pascal; Salminen, Hanna; Stadtmüller, Lucie; Schmitt, Christophe; Weiss, Jochen
BACKGROUND: Binders in plant-based meat analogues allow different components, such as extrudate and fat particles, to stick together. Typically, binders then are solidiﬁed to transform the mass into a non-sticky, solid product. As an option for a clean- label binder possessing such properties, the solidiﬁcation behavior of pea protein–pectin mixtures (250 g kg−1 , r = 2:1, pH 6) was investigated upon heating, and upon addition of calcium, transglutaminase, and laccase, or by combinations thereof. RESULTS: Mixtures of (homogenized) pea protein and apple pectin had higher elastic moduli and consistency coefﬁcients and lower frequency dependencies upon calcium addition. This indicated that calcium physically cross-linked pectin chains that formed the continuous phase in the biopolymer matrix. The highest degree of solidiﬁcation was obtained with a mixture of pea protein and sugar beet pectin upon addition of laccase that covalently cross-linked both biopolymers involved. All solidi- ﬁed mixtures lost their stickiness. A mixture of soluble pea protein and apple pectin solidiﬁed only slightly through calcium and transglutaminase, probably due to differences in the microstructural arrangement of the biopolymers.