Meat-, vegetarian-, and vegan sausages: Comparison of mechanics, friction, and structure

Abstract

Plant based meat surrogates attract increasing interest. Modern methods of biotechnology, food chemistry/technology, and process engineering allow for surrogates with high optical similarity. Nowadays, targeted molecular-sensory methods taste and smell to be largely approximated to the original products. Nevertheless, the products appear completely different on a molecular scale, which is clearly noticeable in texture, oral processing, friction, and bolus formation. A consequent physical consideration of the function and effects of the proteins of different origin reveals the strengths of the respective products and offers suggestions how sensory weak points can be understood better and avoided. This is illustrated here by means of exemplary examples and experiments joined with underpinned by molecular models. Meat sausages, vegetarian, and vegan surrogates are microscopically investigated by rheology, tribology, and tensile experiments. The interpretation of the results is illustrated and supported by simple models.