Finding the Next Breakthrough in Alternative Meat

According to statistics, the global plant-based meat market is expected to reach 4.4 billion US dollars by 2022, with a compound annual growth rate of 24.9% expected from 2023 to 2030. However, a major hurdle on the road to making plant-based meat more like “meat” is fat. The aroma, juiciness and tenderness of fat contribute to a meaty experience full of happiness. Currently, most plant-based meat products use a mixture of vegetable oil, seasonings, binders and salt to simulate the taste of meat, but there is still a big gap between the properties of real meat. The excessive addition of seasonings also makes consumers question its nutritional value. So, how does an excellent fat substitute get “developed”?

The fat dilemma of plant-based meat

Among meat substitutes, fat affects the product's appearance, overall flavor, food aroma, eating texture, aftertaste strength, etc. In addition to these functional attributes, it also affects the nutritional composition. Traditional animal meat is usually rich in saturated fat, while plant-based fat is rich in unsaturated fatty acids and has lower calories.

Currently, the plant-based meat industry relies on coconut oil as the main fat in its products, as it is semi-solid at room temperature and is therefore a better substitute for solid animal fat than other vegetable oils. However, coconut oil is not an ideal substitute for animal fat. While animal fat is solid at room temperature and slowly melts during cooking, coconut oil melts almost immediately when heated. It cannot achieve the semi-solid state provided by meat fat. In addition, coconut oil has more limited application scenarios. For example, n-3 fatty acids contained in marine fish have high nutritional value and a delicious taste, but the content of this ingredient in coconut oil is not high. A Harvard University study also found that coconut oil can increase blood cholesterol and heart disease risk.

Another common source of fat replacers is palm oil, which, like coconut oil, is solid at room temperature and melts when heated. It is mainly used in margarines, frying oils, and baked goods. Another major problem with palm oil is that its industrial chain is conducive to deforestation and the destruction of wildlife habitats in Southeast Asia.

Finding the ideal fat replacers is crucial if the plant-based meat industry is to become sustainable and provide consumers with foods that are both healthy and delicious.

What is missing in alternative fat technology?

Fat in meat products enhances flavor, texture, firmness, juiciness, mouthfeel, moisture and processing characteristics. In recent years, scientists have started to use different food-grade materials as substitutes for saturated fat in meat products. Natural biopolymers, which were commonly used in past research, can be directly used in meat product formulations to reduce fat and improve oil and water retention, but they cannot imitate the taste, sensory or nutritional properties of animal fat.

Food industry specialty fats (margarines, vegetable creams and shortening, etc.) impart specific functional properties to processed foods (e.g. frozen products, bakery products, cold drinks and confectionery), such as a crispy texture, whipped aerated structure, flavor and organoleptic properties, which depend on the crystalline network structure of the high melting point components in the specialty fats. Currently, most specialty fats are produced through fat modification technology (hydrogenation, fractionation and transesterification of vegetable oils), and their main raw materials are animal fats, palm oil, palm kernel oil and coconut oil, which contain a large amount of saturated fatty acids and trans fatty acids, which have a negative impact on human health. Traditionally, plant-based pre-emulsions have improved the fatty acid composition, but do not have a solid-like texture. Oil-gel systems have the advantage of rheological properties similar to those of solid/semi-solid fats and the benefits of zero trans and low saturated fatty acids, making them a new type of fat product that can replace traditional plastic fats.

The pre-emulsion improves the fatty acid composition and introduces unsaturated fatty acids, but does not have the structure of a solid fat. The food industry needs to develop a new technology for constructing low-saturated zero-trans fat. This technology produces a new type of fat that can simulate the crystallographic network structure and functional properties of traditional fats, so it does not affect the texture and organoleptic properties of the final product.

Heating is a necessary step for oil-gel preparations, and during preparation, the oil gel needs to reach the melting point of the organic gelling agent. This is prone to lipid oxidation, which can cause undesirable flavours and even food spoilage. Therefore, the advantages of emulsified gels have become apparent, and they are gradually attracting researchers as a fat substitute and even as a new way to design plant-based products.

The era of alternative fats 2.0

Oil gels prepared by gelation of vegetable oils and fats have the advantages of zero trans and low saturated fatty acids, and are considered to be a new type of fat product that can replace traditional plastic fats. The key challenge in the commercial application of oil gels is to find non-toxic, effective, healthy and nutritious food-grade gelators.

Currently, the replacement of synthetic or semi-synthetic structure-forming agents with natural, green and efficient oil and fat structure-forming agents for use in the processing of products and ingredients is of great economic significance for the emerging food, pharmaceutical and beauty industries.

Scientists have discovered that although vegetable fats and animal fats are different in nature, they can be made to work in a similar way by changing their molecular structure or adding other ingredients. For example, the Spanish company Cubiq has developed smart fat substitutes, n-3 microencapsulated algal fats and cell culture fats. Among them, the smart fat substitute replicates animal fat in terms of appearance, texture and bite. It uses the emulsification technology of vegetable oil and water to effectively ensure that the fat remains in the food during cooking, thereby enhancing the taste. The product can adjust the binding agent based on the cooking recipe to suit different scenarios, and has already partnered with Cargill.

The American food technology company Shiru uses its patented technology platform to combine plant proteins with plant-based fats using bioinformatics and machine learning to find the best-performing natural gel ingredients. The ingredient is solid at room temperature and melts when cooked, giving plant-based meat a juicy texture. In terms of nutrition, it contains 90% less saturated fat than coconut oil and palm oil.

In November 2022, Omni Foods, headquartered in Hong Kong, China, developed a patented technology for vegetable fat. The product is composed of unsaturated fat. The patented technology emulsifies oil and water, which penetrates into the plant-based material and thus forms part of the plant-based meat. This technology will be used in the brand's new products, including plant-based beef cubes, plant-based chicken wings, plant-based pork ribs, etc.

Swedish company Mycorena has developed an animal fat substitute using proprietary emulsification technology and fungi as a stabilizer. The product contains only natural ingredients, is more than 85% lower in saturated fat than coconut oil, and contains more than 3% fiber. The company has partnered with plant-based steak manufacturer Juicy Marbles, and its products have shown good juiciness and flavor in tests.

Food technology company Lypid uses microencapsulation technology to make solid vegetable fats from sunflower oil, olive oil, gums and fibres. These fats are free of trans fats and have a high melting point, which means they retain their flavour characteristics when heated. The vegetable fats are available in low, medium and high melting point versions to suit different cooking needs. The company launched plant-based pork belly made with its vegetable fat in the US and Asia-Pacific region in March this year.

Another startup, Melt&Marble, uses yeast cells for precise fermentation and special enzymes to design the structure and characteristics of fats, thereby customizing fats for different products. Its products have lower saturated fat and are free of trans fats, antibiotics and other substances. The production process uses sustainable raw materials and requires less land and lower production costs.

Chinese researchers have also invented healthy fat technology for plant-based meat. For example, a peanut-oil-based fat substitute for plant-based meat is a peanut-oil emulsion gel formed by stabilizing peanut oil with a complex polysaccharide solution or microgel particles. It is easy and quick to prepare, green and safe, and has been successfully applied to plant-based meat. Another fat based on microalgal protein is a fat specially designed for plant-based meat, which uses a combination of microalgal protein nanoparticle dispersion, microalgal protein nanoparticle dispersion and edible polysaccharides to structure vegetable oil. The processing technology is green and fast, and it expands the practical application of structured fat substitutes in the field of plant-based meat.