Biopolymers and Colloids Laboratory, Department of Food Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
Biopolymers and Colloids Laboratory, Department of Food Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA; Department of Food Science & Bioengineering, Zhejiang Gongshang University, 18 Xuezheng Street, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310018, China.
Food Res Int. 2024 Sep;191:114734. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2024.114734. Epub 2024 Jul 4.
Plant-based meat analogs are being developed to address environmental, sustainability, health, and animal welfare concerns associated with real meat products. However, it is challenging to mimic the desirable physicochemical, functional, and sensory properties of real meat products using plant-based ingredients. Emulsion gels consisting of lipid droplets embedded in biopolymer matrices are commonly used to create products with appearances, textures, and sensory attributes like meat products. In this study, the impact of soybean oil droplet characteristics (concentration, size, and charge) on the physicochemical properties of potato protein gels was studied. The oil droplets were either coated by a non-ionic surfactant (Tween 20) or a plant protein (patatin) to obtain different surface properties. The introduction of the oil droplets caused the protein gels to change from mauve to off-white, which was attributed to increased light scattering. Increasing the oil droplet concentration in the emulsion gels decreased their shear modulus and Young's modulus, which was mainly attributed to the fact that the oil droplets were less rigid than the surrounding protein network. Moreover, increasing the oil droplet size made this effect more pronounced, which was attributed to their greater deformability. Competitive adsorption of proteins and surfactants at the oi-water interface in the Tween emulsion promoted emulsion instability. This research highlights the complexity of the interactions between oil droplets and protein networks in emulsion gels. These insights are important for the utilization of emulsion gels in the formulation of plant-based foods with improved quality attributes.
植物基肉类仿制品的开发旨在解决与真实肉类产品相关的环境、可持续性、健康和动物福利问题。然而，使用植物成分来模拟真实肉类产品所需的理想物理化学、功能和感官特性具有挑战性。由嵌入在生物聚合物基质中的脂质液滴组成的乳化凝胶通常用于制造具有外观、质地和感官特性类似于肉类产品的产品。在这项研究中，研究了大豆油滴特性（浓度、大小和电荷）对马铃薯蛋白凝胶物理化学性质的影响。油滴要么被非离子表面活性剂（吐温 20）或植物蛋白（伴大豆球蛋白）包裹，以获得不同的表面性质。油滴的引入使蛋白质凝胶的颜色从紫红色变为灰白色，这归因于光散射的增加。在乳液凝胶中增加油滴浓度会降低其剪切模量和杨氏模量，这主要归因于油滴比周围的蛋白质网络刚性小。此外，增加油滴尺寸会使这种效应更加明显，这归因于它们更大的可变形性。蛋白质和表面活性剂在吐温乳液中的油-水界面上的竞争吸附促进了乳液的不稳定性。这项研究强调了乳液凝胶中油滴和蛋白质网络之间相互作用的复杂性。这些见解对于在具有改善质量特性的植物基食品配方中利用乳液凝胶非常重要。
