Alternative meats are one of the top food trends of 2020. People have started getting into these alternative due to the rise in awareness of factory farming conditions, contributing to a multitude of problems from antibiotic resistance and climate change as well as people against animal cruelty. Let’s take a deep dive into the world of plant-based meats.
Two of the main meat alternative foods are the impossible foods and Beyond Meat. They aim to create plant-based products to taste like meat so that consumers that enjoy meat can have an alternative, mainly aimed at meat consumer’s instead of vegetarians (but vegetarians and vegans can still enjoy alike). Companies say that their alternative meats produce 90% greenhouse gas emissions (Beyond Meat). Lab grown meats are also another way that you can reduce your footprint while still consuming “real meat”, although there is controversy over it.
The beyond burger is also a feat of R&D by food scientists- in order to get enough protein, the maillard reaction browning and umami meat flavor, using plants can be a real feat. Let’s take a look at the Beyond Meat Ingredients: “Water, Pea Protein Isolate*, Expeller-Pressed Canola Oil, Refined Coconut Oil, Rice Protein, Natural Flavors, Cocoa Butter, Mung Bean Protein, Methylcellulose, Potato Starch, Apple Extract, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Vinegar, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Sunflower Lecithin, Pomegranate Fruit Powder, Beet Juice Extract (for color)”.
One of the main components of any of these burgers is the protein- real meat burgers are high in muscle proteins so to convert it to plant proteins, protein isolates are used. Isolate are 95% protein normally and their production starts with the production of flour. For the production of high-quality protein isolates the process is as follows: The soluble proteins rae then extracted with water through a pH adjustment with NaOH and insoluble materials are decanted. Soluble fibers and residual strache is removed through clarification. Oligosaccharides are removed through plate- frame ultrafiltration at 50kD Molecular weight cut-off then dried with a rotary wheel spray drier. (Frederickson et al, 2001)
(Frederickson et al, 2001)
Pea protein is desired because it has a higher iron content, which can be hard to mimic due to non-heme iron in plants and is hypoallergenic, contains all essential amino acids and is not gritty or chalky due to low solubility. Other proteins that are used are Mung bean and rice isolate.Fat is added to give the fake marbling and the oleogustus/rich flavor. Coconut oil is used for its high saturated fat content. The proteins and the fat are binded with methyl cellulose (thickener and emulsifier made of methylated cellulose) , potato starch (humectant and thickener that tolerates higher temperatures) and sunflower lecithin (emulsifier). Small amounts of acid can increase the saltiness of the burger and reduce the amount of salt to be added but also enhance flavors. Potassium chloride is a salt replacer that gives a salty flavor without the same effects on the body as sodium chloride. The final component is the color of the burger to make it look like meat. To keep things natural, pomegranate fruit powder is used as well as beet juice extract due to the high betalins that give a deep red color. During cooking, the betalin are degraded and the apple extract contains polyphenols that allows for the maillard reaction to take place with the proteins and brown the burger- giving it that crispy grilled exterior.
All in all, for no soy or gluten, beyond meat and other alternative meat products are doing good for giving anyone another alternative to meat if they want to cut down. That said, alternative meats are still highly processed which can be linked to other health complications.. What are your thoughts on the meat alternatives?
Written by: Laura Webb, U3 Concurrent Food Science and Nutrition Student
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