A comparison of physicochemical characteristics, texture, and structure of meat analogue and meats

BACKGROUND The continuous increase of global consumer's dietary behaviors towards reducing meat consumption due to health benefits, ecological, ethical, and social aspects. Texturized vegetable protein (TVP) transformed from plant protein‐based ingredient can impart fibrous structure like muscle meat. However, there is limited information on a comparison of product properties of TVP and meats. In this study, the comparison of physicochemical properties, texture, and structure of TVP and different types of meats (beef, pork, and chicken) were investigated. RESULTS The nitrogen solubility and integrity index, chewiness and cutting strength of TVP were similar to that of the chicken sample compared to other meats. However, water absorption capacity of TVP (2173.84 g kg−1) was significantly higher than all meat samples (1095.37 to 1653.52 g kg−1). The color and amino acids of TVP were different from meat samples due to the difference in protein types. TVP showed a fibrous structure with non‐uniform air cells. CONCLUSION The study demonstrated that some textural and chemical characteristics of texturized vegetable protein under intermediate moisture extrusion exhibited the most similarity to chicken meat. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry