Research Outline

Plant-based Burger Patties

Goals

Obtain studies on the latest technological trends in the development of plant-based burger patties. The information will be used to identify new potential areas of innovation for a client in this space.

Early Findings

Plant-based Burger Patties

Processes and Techniques

  • Based on a research study, one of the current challenges in producing plant-based meat revolves around the process and technology needed to duplicate the texture of real meat.
  • Currently, several methods are being explored to address this challenge.
  • This include improving methods to pull spherical plant proteins to transform them into string-like forms and to allow them to stick into each other like fibers.
  • Another method is to grow cells from real meat such as cow tissues.
  • Muscles from these tissues were then cultured and allowed to grow.
  • Meat grown this way were found to be leaner than regular meat.
  • The team is now experimenting with fat cells culture that can be grown and combined with the cultured muscle tissues.
  • The study also mentioned that using " standard biotechnology and engineering techniques" could improve the process to make it more cost-effective.

Added Ingredients

  • Majority of the meat substitutes that are currently in existence are formed from a combination of soy and wheat gluten that is commonly referred to as "texturized vegetable protein."
  • This protein substitute appears as "thin and spongy patties."
  • Brown food dye is often added to this ingredient to make them beef-like.
  • Breading were also added if the target final product is a chicken nugget.
  • Food scientists combine ingredients such as "soy sauce, mushroom extracts, or yeast extracts" to bring out the meaty umami taste.
  • Givaudan, one of the key players in the flavor and fragrance sector has released a series of masking solutions that can mask the off-notes tastes of plant-based proteins such as soy, pea, fava, rice, oats, algae, and whey.
  • The solution can be combined with the company's smart masking tool to protect the taste and the ideal texture of the products that will be made from these plant-based ingredients.
  • The Lightlife brand recently released its refrigerated plant-based burger that uses ingredients such as "pea protein, coconut oil, and beet powder."