OPTIMIZATION OF LEGUME BASED MEAT ALTERNATIVE USING FREEZE STRUCTURING AND EVALUATION OF ITS QUALITY INDICES

Abstract

The continuous development and increasing demand of the fast-growing market for meat alternatives will offer abundant opportunities for food scientists and entrepreneurs to innovate new technologies. Product development and applied research primarily focus on the sensory qualities related to the texture of meat analogues. The preference for sustainable plant-based meat over animal meat worldwide is primarily driven by the growing concerns regarding the environment and health. In this study, various plant-based composites were investigated to create plant-based meat alternatives with distinctive texture profiles using an innovative freeze-structuring technique. Statistical ANOVA was utilized to optimize the composite consisting of pea proteins isolate (PPI) and soy protein isolate (ISP). The physicochemical, textural, and sensory properties of the analogs were thoroughly examined. The findings indicated that the analog with a ratio of 40:60 (PPI:ISP) was the most favored compared to other formulations. The incorporation of soy protein seemed to have an impact on the textural properties. The optimized composition level (40:60) exhibited a hardness of 842.87g, chewiness of 721.35 N/cm, and the highest sensory properties on an 8.3 hedonic scale. Additionally, the water activity was measured to be 0.553, classifying the product as an intermediate moisture food. The nutritional analysis shows that optimized meat substitutes have 16 % increased protein levels when compared to conventional chicken meat. This study improved the comprehension of the impacts of composites on the structure and physicochemical characteristics of plant-based meat substitutes. It highlighted the potential of utilizing plant protein composites in the development of satisfactory meat analogues.