The impact of temperature gradient, apparent shear rate, and inferred phase transition timing on extruded high moisture meat analog quality.

Scalability of the cooling die unit operation is critical to lowering the manufacturing cost of high moisture meat analogs(HMMA), but it is unclear what scale-up criteria are important. An experiment consisting of two cooling die cross-section geometries (tall and narrow or short and wide), two production rates (2.7 or 4.5 kg/hr) and 4 cooling media inlet temperatures (36, 48, 60, and 72 °C) was employed to study their effect on product texture, anisotropy, and extrusion system parameters. Comprehensive temperature measurements were made along the dies to observe the product temperature gradient and to quantify the energy balance associated with cooling. It was found that textural hardness had a positive relationship with axial temperature gradient (p < 0.05), while anisotropy had a negative and positive relationship with axial temperature gradient and die height, respectively (p < 0.05). Extruder motor torque and die inlet pressure were found to be functions of the cooling media inlet temperature and apparent Newtonian shear rate applied to the material in the die (p < 0.05). The energy balance indicated that enhanced anisotropy is associated with more exothermic in-situ phase changes, which are controlled by the product formulation and applied die conditions. There are likely 3 scalable variables most relevant to controlling the HMMA product quality: 2 critical phase transition temperatures, and the axial product temperature gradient. Therefore, scaling up HMMA cooling dies will require balancing the heat transfer rate away from the product such that an optimal product temperature profile can be maintained at scale.