European researchers develop prototype process to produce meat substitute

European researchers have developed a new prototype method to produce a meat substitute made from vegetables that is juicy and fibrous, and has the consistency of a real cutlet when chewed.

The project to develop the meat substitute, known as LikeMeat, is being led by Florian Wild at the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV at Freising, Germany.

Florian Wild said the aim of the project is to develop a vegetable surrogate for meat that is not only juicy and fibrous, but also has a pleasant flavour.

"The product should have a long shelf life, it should not be more expensive than meat, and be suitable for vegetarians and allergy sufferers," Wild added.

According to researchers, the conventional method to produce meat substitute, which involves mixing plant proteins with a little water and heating them under high pressure, is not effective as the mass foams up when the steam is released.

For the project, researchers used ingredients that originate from the land such as wheat and peas, lupins and soya. The prototype process involves boiling the main ingredients water and plant proteins and cooling them down slowly.

As the temperature is lowered, protein molecules begin to form chains, which result in a fibrous structure that is quite similar to that of meat, the researchers said.

The new vegetarian cutlet facility is no larger than two table tennis tables and is currently located in the IVV laboratory.

Currently, the research team is able to produce 60 to 70 kilos of the meat substitute per hour, with every piece of meat about 1cm thick and shaped as desired.

The researchers note that although the consistency and texture are good, the flavour of the product has to be improved, but that within one year the facility will be able to produce a meat substitute that is as good as a ready-to-eat cutlet.

The project’s research team involves scientists at IVV, experts from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), consumer researchers from the University of Wageningen, in the Netherlands, and eleven food companies.