Page 37 - FoodFocusThailand No.175 October 2020

SPECIAL FOCUS

needed to make the products appearance, texture and
taste like real thing. In Thailand, startups using
technology to create plant-based meat are rising in
popularity. Another challenge is to search the suitable
protein source available in the country. Although the
plant-based burger is not the mainstream products in
the market today, the rising trend of this product is
expected to rise in the near future.

รูปที่ 2 โครงสร้างของโมเลกุลฮีโมโกลบินที่พบใน
เลือด ไมโอโกลบินที่พบในกล้ามเนื้อของสัตว์ และ
เลกฮีโมโกลบินที่พบในปมรากของถั่วเหลือง
Figure 2 Chemical structures of mammalian
hemoglobin, animal myoglobin and
leghemoglobin

some legumes. This compound has
similar structure with myoglobin found
in meat muscle containing heme
compound which acts as carrier of
oxygen to control the concentration of
oxygen within the nodules. When a
nodule is cut open, the pink or red color
can be seen.
Leghemoglobin is obviously the
secret ingredient of Impossible burger
to win over the other brands. As mention,
leghemoglobin contained heme
compound similar to animal muscle
myoglobin. This give off the red color
due to the iron in its heme group binding
with oxygen cooked burger created the
perfect brown color and slight metallic
taste similar to real beef burger.
6. Preservative These two brands
plant-based burger used preservative
agents to control the quality of the
product during the storage. Sodium
ascorbate is used for Impossible burger,
while mixed preservatives including
sodium ascorbate, citrus extract, acetic
acid and succinic acid are used for
Beyond burger.
7. Vitamin and Mineral To create
the plant burger contained vitamin and
mineral comparable amounts with real
beef burger. Both brands offer up their
products by the addition of certain
vitamin and mineral like vitamin B12,
vitamin D, omega-3, zinc and iron.
Development of plant-based burger
as the meat substitute burger is such a
challenge for food industry which strong
R&D team is really needed. Not only
ingredient is important, but also
innovative technology is together

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