Page 70 - FoodFocusThailand No.222 September 2024

STRONG QC & QA

bonds. Reagents breaking water-water interactions and/or
disulfide bonds can verify this. Although this method is widely
used, it remains unclear which reactions are the most
important in creating the fiber structure of plant-based meat
products.
3. Morphological analysis: This technique is used to
analyze the macrostructure from a microscopic image of the
fiber structure obtained from several processes, such as
biopolymer blending, extrusion, and shear cell technology.
These techniques can reveal different fibers in imitation meat
products along the shear direction. Therefore, a study on the
morphology of plant-based meat products is also investigated
by many instruments, i.e., microscopy, light reflectance,
fluorescence polarization, x-ray tomography, etc.
3.1 Microscopy is the study of the surface of imitation
meat products using various types of microscopes, including
light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and
confocal scanning laser microscopy (CSLM).
3.2 Light reflectance analysis is a sample analysis
method based on the theory of light reflection and refraction.
According to the intensity of the sample reflection, the
intensity of light reflection will deviate following the shape of
2) The Top-down strategy involves imitating the meat the object lit, such as the fiber arrangement at different levels
structure on a large scale without a hierarchical model. It in the product after being extruded.
involves combining various biopolymers, such as soy protein 3.3 Fluorescence polarization spectroscopy studies
and wheat gluten, to directly form imitation meat through simple food materials using a polarized light to stimulate fluorescent
processes, including extrusion, mixing, freezing, and shear cell molecules. Tryptophan is a natural fluorescent probe often
technology, to create meat alternative products. used in meat science to determine meat structure. Similarly,
this technique has been used to evaluate the anisotropy of
Texture Evaluation Techniques for Meat Analogue extruded materials, where a moisture content of 60% was
Products found to be suitable for the polarity level of measurement.
There are several techniques for evaluating the structure and 3.4 X-ray tomography (XRT) analysis is an examination
texture of plant-based meat products, including optical, using X-ray images to detect differences in material density.
mechanical, dielectric, and imaging methods. Each technique Mostly, the XRT is used to distinguish bones, lean meat, and
provides different information, i.e., surface or morphological fat in meat analysis, but it can also examine the trapped air
assessment of food products using light reflectance, during the formation of imitation meat structures. This is
fluorescence polarization spectroscopy, microscopy, and X-ray because the extrusion process causes an expansion of the
tomography (XRT), etc. Meanwhile, texture evaluation can be product due to the water evaporation and the presence of
determined by dielectric and mechanical analyzers, such as air pockets, which may affect the fiber properties in the final
texture analyzers (TPA), etc. Therefore, the measuring methods products.
are dependent on the evaluated product characteristics, and
multiple methods are used to obtain reliable and precise results.
Texture evaluation of plant-based meat products is divided into
3 methods, as follows: More Information Service Info C010
1. Mechanical analysis: This technique is used to analyze
the hardness or softness of the alternative meat products by
quantitative measurement tools, such as Warner-Bratzler Shear เอกสารอ้างอิง/References
Force (WBSF) or texture profile analyzer (TPA profiles), Damez, J.L., & Clerjon, S. (2008). Meat quality assessment using
including springiness, cohesiveness, gumminess, and biophysical methods related to meat structure. Meat Science, 80(1),
chewiness. In addition, there are other instruments used to 132–149.
analyze physicochemical changes in imitation meat products, Dekkers B., Boom, R., & van der Goot, A.J. (2018). Structuring
i.e., dielectric analyzer (DEA), mechanical analyzer (DMA), processes for meat analogues. Trends in Food Science &
Technology, 81(2–3), 25-26.
differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Hadi, J., & Brightwell, G. (2021). Safety of Alternative Proteins:
and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, etc. Technological, Environmental and Regulatory Aspects of Cultured
2. Chemical analysis: This technique is used to analyze Meat, Plant-Based Meat, Insect Protein and Single-Cell Protein.
molecular bonding interactions in food products. The fiber Foods (Basel, Switzerland), 10(6), 1226.
products obtained from the protein extrusion process occur Yao, G., Liu, K. S., & Hsieh, F. (2004). A new method for characterizing
fiber formation in meat analogs during high-moisture extrusion.
from protein-protein interactions with various bonds, such as Journal of Food Science, 69(7), 303–307.
covalent bonds, hydrophobic-hydrophilic reactions, and disulfide

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