Protein micro-structuring as a tool to texturize proteinfoods

Abstract

Structuring protein foods to control the textural properties receives growing attention nowadays. It requires decoupling of the product properties such as water holding capacity and the mechanical properties from the actual protein concentration in the product. From an application point of view, both increasing and lowering the protein content in the food are interesting. Foods enriched with proteins are important due to their reported health benefits, but increasing the protein content in food products generally leads to products that are firmer and have a more rubbery mouth-feel than the regular products, making them less attractive. A reduced protein content, for example in meat- or cheese-analogues, is relevant because it leads to a lower caloric intake per serving and it enhances its economic potential. Decoupling of the protein concentration and product properties can be obtained by changing the internal structure of those food products. This paper outlines the use of protein aggregates and particles in a protein matrix as a tool to obtain different textural properties of a model protein product. Whey protein isolate (WPI) was taken as a model protein. However, further investigation of WPI microparticles should focus on a better understanding of their swelling behaviour in the protein matrix to fully use the potential of those protein particles as a tool to decouple product properties and actual protein concentration.

Water-binding of protein particles

“…[115] [116][128] [129] The increase in WBC in the heated MPs might be caused by the formation of a slightly more open network, with more space for water, due to heat-enhanced rearrangements of the non-covalent and covalent bonds. Genipin and Tgase increased the crosslink density, although this did not result in a clear decrease in the WBC of the MPs (Fig.…”

“…Chapter 1 4 The use of structuring to affect the swelling properties HG MPs are able to swell in water and can bind more water when a dispersion of HG MPs is reheated. [116][ 119] The challenge is to produce MPs that are able to absorb even more water, because a water content of ≥ 90% makes the concept presented in Section 1 most feasible. In addition, water should be bound sufficiently strongly, thereby preventing net exchange with the continuous phase of the product, thus keeping the water in the MPs.…”

“…This value is interesting, because the WBC-P as reported for standard HG MP pellets also lies within this range (Chapter 2). [116][119] Therefore it seems that whey protein microparticle pellets have a general minimum WBC-P, irrespective of the process or conditions used. Similar conclusions were reported for soy aggregates.…”

“…[115] [116][118] [119] Cold gelation is a two-step process in which denaturation and gelation occur sequentially, instead of simultaneously as during heat gelation. [3][23] The use of cold gelation is preferred when the product may not be (strongly) heated due to the presence of heat-sensitive ingredients.…”

“…In case the water-binding properties of MPs can be controlled, they can be used to alter the water-binding properties of a full product by adding the particles as an additional dispersed phase. [115] [116] However, the possibilities to control the water-binding properties of MPs are not yet well understood. The Flory-Rehner model can be used to obtain guidelines on increasing the swelling capacity of MPs.…”