The main aim of plant-based meat is to create a meat alternative that possesses the texture, taste and mouthfeel of meat such that it remains indistinguishable from actual meat. Since the taste and texture of the plant proteins change based on the raw material used, making plant-based meat products of satisfactory quality remains one of the biggest challenges faced by the industry.

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Since plant proteins are different from animal proteins in structure, they must first be unfolded, cross-linked, and re-aligned in order to achieve the fibrous texture that meat exhibits. This can either be done by two strategies; the more generally used top-down strategy where the fibrous texture of the meant is achieved via the synthesis of a biopolymer blend, or a bottom-up strategy where each ingredient is combined to create the final product.

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The top-down strategy uses a method called extrusion, a technique first used in the manufacture of pasta products in the 1930s. The plant material is first added into an extruder, where it is cooked and combined together into a cohesive mixture, and then is left to cool down in a die in order for the mixture to retain its shape. The plant material, essentially, is subjected to thermal and mechanical stress which changes the structure of the proteins in it, and makes it more fibrous.

 

Then, the mixture is properly solidified by procedures involving the heating, cooling, drying and or coagulation of the protein. A mechanical shear is used in the extrusion process to size the protein mixture according to need. An additional process, known as wet texturization, may be used post-extrusion to make the texture of the protein mixture more fibrous via the addition of fats, starches and fibers. Plant-based meat products undergoing this process are generally packaged as wet products.

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When plant-based meat production was in its early stages, low-moisture extrusion via a single-screw extruder was commonplace. In the 1980s, twin-screw extruders were developed, which exhibited more consistent heat distribution and higher energy efficiency over the single-screwed extruders, while also being able to execute high-moisture extrusion, which involved hydrating the plant mixture during extrusion, producing a plant-based meat product with a minimum of 50% moisture and a better texture and appearance than before.

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To achieve the taste of meat, it is required to replicate the effects of haeme, the protein that gives meat its taste through the conduction of chemical reactions while the meat is cooked. This is mostly done by creating a plant-based haeme by taking the gene responsible for producing leg-haemoglobin from the roots of soy plants, inserting it into genetically-engineered yeast and then fermenting the yeast to obtain the final product. Leg-haemoglobin also gives a red tint to the mixture, thus helping it achieve a more meat-like appearance.

 

The company Impossible Foods hence uses leghaemoglobin to colour their plant-based meats, while Beyond Meat relies on beet extract for the same. Coconut oil is also mixed into the plant-based meat so it resembles actual meat more, and when cooked, the fats in the coconut oil melt and release compounds that give the product a more meat-like flavor.