the ultimate

Meat Substitutesguide

Summary

INTRODUCTION• An environmental challenge• Proven trends in Flexitarism

MEAT SUBSTITUTES• New generation of Meat substitutes• Raw materials for meat substitutes production

PROTEIN FIBRATION• Proteinfibrationbytwin-screwextrusion• Akeypoint:thetexture

CONCLUSION

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IntroductionAn Environmental Challenge

With the world’s population increase and relative rise of the living standards in developing coun-tries, global meat consumption continues to grow (consumption has more than doubled in the last50years).Tosatisfythisexpandingdemand,industriallivestockproductionhasmultiplied,leadingtodiscussionsabouttheenvironmental,ethicalandhealthconsequencesofsuchlarge-scaleconsumption.

The environmental impact of this production escalation is indisputable: emissions of green-housegases(methaneandnitrogenmonoxide),waterpollution,deforestation....Fromahealthstandpoint, excessive consumption of meat can lead to problems such as cardiovascular di-seaseandcolorectalcancer(forredmeat),amongothers.Therearealsoethicalquestionsoflivestockwelfareandtheuseofedibleplantresourcesforanimalfeed:44%oftheworldwidecereal-cultivatedlandand33%ofthetotalworldwidecultivatedlandisusedtofeedlifestock.Intotal,70%ofarablelandsworldwidearedirectlyorindirectlydedicatedtothebreeding/farmingof animals to feed humans.

One of the major challenges of the 21st century will be feeding the growing global population,

taking into account societal constraints such as environmen-

tal protection and animal welfare.

Proven Trends in flexitarism

Thishasledtoanewtrendofconsumptionknownasflexitarism.Awareofthesocietalandenvironmentalef-fectsofananimal-baseddiet,flexitariansarewillingtoreduce their meat consumption by introducing non-animal protein sources into their diets. Flexitarianconsumers are defined as regular meat-eaters,environmentally conscious and looking for healthyalternativestothetraditionalmeatproducts.

Mankind being omnivorous, we can anticipate that the global population will still, on average, include meat in itsdiet.However,someofthisconsumptionofmeatpro-ductscouldbereplacedbyanothertypeofhighproteinfood:meatsubstitutes.

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Meat substitutes are plant-based products thathave the protein content, appearance and taste of realmeat,meat-like textures,andhighlybenefi-cial compositions containing essential amino acids withlowornocholesterol.Theirproductiondoesnotcauselarge-scaleethicalorenvironmentalim-pacts.

Vegetablemeats(ormeatanalogues)havebeenproduced for decades but found limited commer-cialsuccess.Yetanewgenerationofmeatrepla-cements developed with improved ingredient and processtechnologyisincreasinglyindemandto-daybyEuropeanandAmericanconsumers.

The new generation ofmeat substitute ormeatanaloguematchspecificallythecharacteristicsofmeattexture.Itnowisalsopossibletomodulatecolour,usingnaturalcolourings,andflavour,witharomasorspices.

Meat subsTitutesNew Generation of Meat Substitutes

Raw Materials for MeatSubstitutes Production

Meat substitutes are made of fibratedproteins. Fibrated proteins are vegetableproteinsthatarecholesterol-free,lowinfat,highinproteinandfibercontent,andrichinnutrients.Theproteinsaredirectlyextractedfromplantssuchassoya,cereals,orpulses(peasandbeans)orotherplants.Theycanalsointegratefishormeat-basedrawmate-rials,forhumanoranimalconsumption.

Plant proteins are widely available and al-low preparations of various compositions including vegetarian and vegan products.Among the main sources of plant proteins wecancite:wheatgluten,soyabean,pea,lentil, fababean, chickpea, common bean, andlupine.

Protein sources can be used in differentforms: Isolate, concentrate, defatted flour,and even full fat flour, providing adequateequipmentconfiguration.Theycanbemixedwithadditionalingredientstobringdifferentfunctionalities,textureandmouthfeel.

Soja

Lupine

Chickpeas

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This New Generation of Meat Substitute is produced thanks

to Twin ScrewExtrusion Process

Protein Fibration by Twin Screw Extrusion

Extrusion-cooking has been described as a newmethod of continuous cooking of starchy andproteinaceousfoodstuffs.AsaHighTemperatureShortTime(HTST)processit favors mechanical action for the conversion of starchesandproteins.Largelyusedwithlowmoisture content (< 30% wwb), cooking-plasti-cizing of starchy and proteinaceousmaterials isintendedtogivetheresultingproductsaspecifictexture,typicallyexpanded,shapedortexturized,forasensoryorfunctionalpurpose(physicalend-useproperties).

Protein f ibration

Intheearly1980s,anewextrusion-cookingprocess was developed consisting of plastici-zing food mixes at high moisture content rangingfrom50%to80%.

Thisprocesswasfirstappliedtoemulsifyandprepare gel cheese analogues or to prepare fat substitutes and was later extended to tex-turizeproteinsintomeatanalogues.

Thework studiesmade by two researchersA. Noguchi,working fromtheNationalFood ResearchLaboratoryinTsukuba(Japan),and J.C.Cheftel,intheLaboratoryofBiochemistry and Food Technology at The University of Montpellier(France),particularlycontributed to create the new innovative process of HighMoistureExtrusionCooking,alsocalled ProteinFibrationTechnology.These food scientists successfully created meat-liketexturesfromsoyingredientsusing twinscrewextrusion(Nogushi,1989).

Later, the process was successfully scaled-upandindustrializedbyCLEXTRAL,whowasgranted a patent for the process in France in 2001.

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Theprocessofproteinfibrationcombines twomainunitoperations(Bouvier,2006):

Thermomechanical cookingand product fibration.

Thermo-mechanical cooking of protein inproteinfibrationprocessdoesoccur inacom-plex screw-barrel assembly of the twin screwextruder,which includesspecificscrewprofilewithhighL/Dratio(Length/Diameter),andhighmoisturecontent(generallybetween50and70%wwb).Temperaturesintherangeof130–160°Candrelatively long residence time are required toobtainfiberformation.Proteinfibrationprocessincludesaseconddevice,alongcoolingdie.

In the case of fibration technology, this longcoolingdie,playsakeyroleinthemechanismofproteinfibration:

WATER

Et

MOTOR

Ev

RAW MATERIALSFormulation w/ 50 to70% protein content

THERMOMECHANICAL COOKING

Conveying ; Compression ; Plasticizing

DIE FIBRATIONLaminar flow ; Gelling ;

Fiber formation

What happens in the twin screw extruder and die ?

NATIVE STATE UNFOLDED STATE

Extrusion-cooking(shear, heat)

CROSSLINKED STATE

Die texturization

Figure 1 : Mechanism of fiber formation in Protein Fibration Technology

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Residence time of the product inside the fibra-tion die, design of the cooling channels of the die, cross-sectionareaandopeningdimensions,arealsocriticalparameters thatwillgreatly impactthequalityofthefibration.

Figure 2 : low-induced die fibration of protein melt

DIE FIBRATIONLaminar ; Gelling ;

Fiber Formation

A key point: the texture

The protein fibration technology producesuniqueintermediateproducts,withfibratedinternalstructuresimilartomeatmuscles.The strength of fibration can be adjustedbymanipulatingoperatingconditions(particu-larlymechanicalandthermalenergies,andmoisturecontent), ingredientsandformulationaswellasequipmentconfigurationsuchasthetwinscrewextruderandtheshortorlongdies.

As an illustration, profile A and profile B in figure 3, shows 2 types of fibration profiles. Profile A showsaroughsurface,withrelativelyshort and thick, cross- section orientedfibers.While Profile B shows a smoother surface, with longandthinlaminar-floworientedfibers.

Eachoftheseproductswillbededicatedtospe-cific food applications. For instance, profile Amight be used as an analog of chicken strips, whileprofileBmightbeusedasananalogofpulled-pork.

PROFIL A

PROFIL B

Figure 3 : Fiber formation profile of wet-protein products

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Texture profile of meat-like products can be further analyzed using instrumental textureanalysisusedintraditionalmeatproducts.Thecombinationofcomplementarymeasurementssuch as tensile or shear strengths tomeasure firmness, elasticity, and/or chewiness allowsdescribingtheentirescopeoftextureofthefibratedproteinbyextrusion.

Figure 4 : Comparison of Shear strength using Texture analyzer TMS-PRO across fibrated proteins obtain by extrusion (=Analogue) and meat pieces (=Reference). SFIDC Studies, 2013

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42

16

28

12

20

25

43

40

15

26

12

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Pork Dry heat

Pork Pan fry

Beef Moist heat

Beef Dry heat

Chicken Pan Fry

Chicken Moist heat

Chicken Dry heat

TEXTURE (N) - ANALOGUE TEXTURE (N) - REFERENCE

Twin-screw extruders transform plant or animal protein mixtures into a variety of fibrous protein

foods used to createmarket-ready meals.

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CONCLUSIONTwin screw extruders offerauniqueinnovativeand polyvalent method to transformproteinaceousrichmaterials(plantoranimalbased)into healthy and well-balanced fibratedproteinproductswithmeat-liketextureprofiles,such as the ones of chicken breast, moist-cookedroastbeef,flakytunaorporkchops.

The product expertise and process know-howare key points to reach the best meatanalo-guesusingdifferentproteinsources. Thesenewgenerations of meat analogues show higherconversion efficiency and better envi-ronmental impact compared to traditional meat products.They offer the opportunity to address anewconsumertrendcalled“flexitarism”.

ProteinFibrationTechnologyappearstobeonepossible key sustainable solution to feed theexpected 2 billion worldwide consumers in2050.

authorsAnne-SophieLECHEVINLucie TOBOShannonHOOD-NIEFIER, Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre

Clextral,aleaderintwin-screwextrusiontechnology,assistscustomersintheformulationandproductionofmeatanalogueswithfibratedstructureusingitsproprietaryHighMoistureExtru-sionCooking(HMEC)process.Consideringthatmeat-liketextureisanessentialcharacteristicofmeatreplacements,Clextralcarriedoutaqualitativestudyofthetextureofmeatanaloguesproducedbythecompany’sHighMoistureExtrusionCooking(HMEC)process.

AsapioneerintheHMECprocesswithover30yearsofproductionexpertise,(patentNrFR2827123B1)Clextraldeliverstheequipmentandprocessknowledgetothefoodindustryforproducingnovelfibratedproteinsformeatreplacementfoodstohelpfeedtheworldwhileres-pectingethicalandenvironmentalconsiderations.

Contact:contact@clextral.com/www.clextral.com

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