SHAPED VEGETARIAN MEAT PRODUCT

Abstract

The invention relates to a shaped vegetarian meat product comprising: a) 30-80 wt. % water; b) 5-35 wt. % oil, said oil having a solid fat content at 20 degrees Celsius (N.sub.20) of at least 1.5%; c) 2-25 wt. % protein selected from algal protein, bacterial protein, dairy protein, egg protein, fungal protein, plant protein, and combinations thereof; d) 0-40 wt. % of one or more particulate ingredients selected from herbs, spices, vegetables and combinations thereof;
wherein the vegetarian meat product contains at least 4 vol. % of oil droplets having an equivalent spherical diameter in the range of 100 micrometer to 1,000 micrometer as determined by means of micro computed tomography.

This shaped vegetarian meat product has a very attractive juicy appearance and texture.

Claims

1. A shaped vegetarian meat product selected from a sausage or a patty, said meat product comprising: a) 30-80 wt. % water; b) 5-35 wt. % oil, said oil having a solid fat content at 20 degrees Celsius (N.sub.20) of 1.5-20%, wherein the oil contains 80-98 wt. % of a liquid vegetable oil selected from the group of sunflower oil, soybean oil, rapeseed oil, cottonseed oil, maize oil, olive oil, and combinations thereof and 2-20 wt. % of a high melting oil selected from hydrogenated vegetable oil, palm stearin, palm kernel stearin, palm mid fraction, coconut stearin, butter oil, butter stearin and combinations thereof; c) 2-25 wt. % protein selected from algal protein, bacterial protein, dairy protein, egg protein, fungal protein, plant protein, and combinations thereof; d) 0-40 wt. % of one or more particulate ingredients selected from herbs, spices, vegetables and combinations thereof; and e) 0.3-8 wt. % of salt selected from sodium chloride, potassium chloride and combinations thereof; wherein the vegetarian meat product contains at least 4 vol. % of oil droplets having an equivalent spherical diameter in the range of 100 micrometer to 1,000 micrometer as determined by means of micro computed tomography.

2. The vegetarian meat product according to claim 1, wherein the vegetarian meat product is a sausage.

3. The vegetarian meat product according to claim 1, comprising 40-70 wt. % water.

4. The vegetarian meat product according to claim 1, comprising 10-32 wt. % oil.

5. The vegetarian meat product according to claim 1, wherein the oil has a solid fat content at 20 degrees Celsius (N.sub.20) of not more than 10%.

6. The vegetarian meat product according to claim 1, wherein the oil has a solid fat content at 30 degrees Celsius (N.sub.30) of 1-10%.

7. The vegetarian meat product according to claim 1, wherein the vegetarian meat product contains at least 5 vol. % of oil droplets having an equivalent spherical diameter in the range of 100 micrometer to 1,000 micrometer as determined by means of micro computed tomography.

8. The vegetarian meat product according to claim 1, wherein the oil contains 90-97.5 wt. % of a liquid vegetable oil selected from the group of sunflower oil, soybean oil, rapeseed oil, cottonseed oil, maize oil, olive oil, and combinations thereof and 2.5-10 wt. % of a high melting oil selected from hydrogenated vegetable oil, palm stearin, palm kernel stearin, palm mid fraction, coconut stearin, butter oil, butter stearin and combinations thereof.

9. The vegetarian meat product according to claim 1, comprising 4-20 wt. % protein.

10. The vegetarian meat product according to claim 1, comprising 1-20 wt. % of the one or more particulate ingredients.

11. A shaped vegetarian meat product according to claim 1, said product comprising: a) 50-65 wt. % water; b) 15-30 wt. % oil; c) 6-18 wt. % protein selected from dairy protein, egg protein, fungal protein, plant protein, and combinations thereof; d) 2-15 wt. % of one or more particulate ingredients selected from herbs, spices, vegetables and combinations thereof; wherein the vegetarian meat product contains at least 6 vol. % of oil in the form of oil droplets having an equivalent spherical diameter in the range of 100 micrometer to 1,000 micrometer as determined by means of micro computed tomography.

12. A process of preparing a shaped vegetarian meat product according to claim 1, said process comprising the steps of: i) mixing protein and water to produce a homogeneous slurry, said protein being selected from algal protein, bacterial protein, dairy protein, egg protein, fungal protein, plant protein, and combinations thereof; ii) mixing the slurry with oil to produce a vegetarian meat product mass, wherein the mixing of the slurry with the oil is carried out at a temperature x at which the oil has a solid fat content (N.sub.x) of at least 1%; and iii) shaping the vegetarian meat product mass.

13. The process according to claim 12, wherein the process comprises the following steps: extruding the vegetarian meat product mass; and packaging the extruded vegetarian meat product mass.

14. The process according to claim 12, wherein the process comprises the following additional steps: forming the vegetarian meat product mass into a patty; and packaging the patty.

15. A method of preparing a ready-to-eat shaped vegetarian meat product, said method comprising heating a shaped vegetarian meat product according to claim 1 to a temperature of at least 60 C.

Description

[0129] FIGS. 1 and 2 show size labelled binary images that were produced by the micro CT scan.

[0130] FIG. 1 shows the oil droplets having an equivalent spherical diameter of 100 microns or more.

[0131] FIG. 2 separately shows the oil droplets having an equivalent spherical diameter in the range of 100 to 300 microns and the oil droplets having an equivalent spherical diameter of more than 300 microns.

[0132] The micro CT analysis showed that the sausages contained 7.9 vol. % of oil droplets having an equivalent spherical diameter of more than 100 microns and 1.9 vol. % of oil droplets having an equivalent spherical diameter of more than 300 microns.

Comparative Example A

[0133] Smoked sausages were prepared on the basis of the recipe shown in Table 2.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Ingredients Wt. % Water 58.8 Rapeseed oil 25.2 Salt 0.6 Protein mix .sup.1 9.8 Taste giving ingredient mix .sup.2 4.6 Colourants 0.7 Polysaccharides .sup.3 0.3 TOTAL 100.0 .sup.1 Mixture of wheat protein and (predominantly) egg white protein .sup.2 Herbs, spices and flavouring .sup.3 Contains predominantly konjac gum and some carrageenan

[0134] The sausages were prepared in the same way as the sausages in Example 1, except that no vacuum was applied during mixing and that the medium shear setting was applied also after the second oil addition step.

[0135] Micro CT analysis showed that the sausages contained less than 0.1 vol. % of oil droplets having an equivalent spherical diameter of more than 100 micrometer.

Example 2

[0136] The sausages described in Example 1 and Comparative Example A were evaluated by a trained sensory panel.

[0137] The panel had been trained to score the intensity of attributes on an absolute scale ranging from 0-15. Using absolute scaling enables comparison of attribute scores.

[0138] The trained sensory panel consisted of 12 panel members, selected according to ISO 8586 standards. The samples were offered sequential monadic and blind with 3-digit codes. White light conditions were applied. A mean score was calculated, for each attribute for every product. The samples were heated in a vacuum-bag for 15 minutes in hot water (90 C.). After heating, the samples were offered directly to the panelists.

[0139] The panelists cut the sausage, using sharp and similar knives, and visually evaluated the inside of the sausage for the degree of visible moisture from either fat and or water. A lower score indicates less visible moisture and a higher score indicates more visible moisture.

[0140] After visual evaluation by the panelists, the samples were tested for their organoleptic attributes. One of the texture attributes is labelled as dry/rough after feel. This attribute describes the degree of a dry/rough after feel and is judged after the product has left the mouth. A lower score indicates less dry/rough after feel in the mouth, while a higher score indicates a more dry/rough after feel in the mouth.

[0141] As a reference sample the panel also evaluated a commercial pork meat sausage, type Unox magere rookworst (Unox light smoked sausage).

[0142] The average panel scores for the three sausages tested are shown in Table 3.

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Sausage of Unox light Sausage of Comparative smoked sausage Example 1 Example A Moist appearance 8.2 * 8.0 * 3.1 Dry/rough after feel 3.2 3.8 5.6 * Not significantly different.

Example 3

[0143] Vegetable patties were prepared on the basis of the recipes shown in Table 4:

TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Ingredients Patty A Patty 1 Water 59.5 59.5 Rapeseed oil 20 19.4 High melting fat .sup.1 0.6 Isolated soy protein .sup.2 10 10 Pregelatinized chickpea flour .sup.3 10 10 Salt 0.5 0.5 TOTAL 100 100 .sup.1 Fully hardened palm oil .sup.2 SUPRO 620 IP, ex Solae, USA .sup.3 ex. La Veronese, Italy

[0144] Vegetable patty A was prepared as follows: [0145] Water and isolated soy protein were mixed in a Stephan mixer (UMC 5 electronic, standard 2 knives mixing tool) at 1000 rpm for 2 minutes at a reduced pressure of 0.1 bar. [0146] Rapeseed oil was added and mixed at 1000 rpm for 2 minutes at a reduced pressure of 0.1 bar. [0147] Finally, chickpea flour and salt were added and mixed at 1000 rpm for 2 minutes at a reduced pressure of 0.1 bar. [0148] 1 kg of this mixture was then transferred in a plastic piping bag (type 7004 comfort green, One Way Plastics B.V., Oosterhout, The Netherlands) and the content was extruded into a transparent polypropylene beaker (internal dimensions: diameter bottom 90 mm, diameter top 106 mm, height 130 mm), which served as casing. [0149] The beaker was closed with a plastic lid and placed in a water bath at 92 C. for 1 hour. Subsequently the product was allowed to cool to ambient temperature. [0150] In a final step, the product was deposited on a plate to be cut in 1 cm thick patties.

[0151] Vegetable patty 1 was prepared in the same way as vegetable patty A, except that i) instead of rapeseed oil a homogeneous blend of rapeseed oil and high melting fat was added, and ii) that this oil blend was mixed with the water and soy protein mixture at 300 rpm instead of 1000 rpm.

[0152] Before evaluation, both types of patties were heated on a ceramic dinner plate in a microwave oven (Menumaster RCS511DSE, ACP, inc.) at 1100 Watt. At intervals, the oven was stopped, and core temperature of the vegetable patty was measured until it was above 60 C. Each patty was then cut in half with a knife and the cut surface was evaluated for its moist appearance by a panel.

[0153] The inside of the vegetable patty A showed no visible moisture, and did not have a juicy appearance. In contrast thereto, the inside of patty 1 showed visible moisture and had a juicy appearance.

[0154] The oil droplet distribution of the vegetable patties A and 1 was analysed by means of micro computed tomography according to the method described in Example 1. The analysis showed that patty A contained less than 0.1 vol. % of oil droplets having an equivalent spherical diameter of more than 100 micrometer, whereas patty 1 contained 13.2 vol. % of oil droplets having an equivalent spherical diameter of more than 100 microns and 8.1 vol. % of oil droplets having an equivalent spherical diameter of more than 300 microns.