Israeli start-up Meala says a single texturising pea protein can do the job of the binders, thickeners and preservatives now used in blended burgers that mix beef with plant ingredients, after a blind taste test against an all-beef patty, Green Queen reports.
Blended meat products usually carry additives: Lidl's blended burger in the UK contains sodium metabisulphite, Rewe's patty in Germany sodium alginate, and Albert Heijn's hybrid meat in the Netherlands sugar beet fibre, potato starch and sodium ascorbate. Meala's process combines physical and enzymatic treatments to turn plant protein into an ingredient that binds, gels, foams, emulsifies and holds water, so it can stand in for eggs or hydrocolloids.
In the test, sensory research firm New Sense served 120g patties with no bun, sauce or spice to 10 trained super-tasters. They compared 100% beef burgers with two blends containing 42% beef and 58% plant-based extender. Meala's blend showed no statistically significant difference from beef in overall flavour intensity, bitterness and sourness, had significantly fewer non-meat off-notes than a blend bound with methylcellulose, chewed more like beef and was the best liked of the blends. It did brown darker inside and out than the all-beef patty.
The ingredient used, called Savory, is already sold in Europe through DSM-Firmenich as Vertis PB Pea. Meala's range also includes Groundbaker, an allergen-free egg replacer for cakes, muffins and pancakes, and Addressing, which replaces stabilisers and emulsifiers in sauces.
Founded in 2021, the company has started full-scale production of its pea proteins at two sites in France and Germany, enough from next year to replace 1,400 tonnes of eggs a year, or 82,000 eggs a day, it says.
For pea growers and meat processors, the result points to a role for plant protein not as a meat replacement but as a clean-label ingredient inside meat products, where shoppers want short ingredient lists.
Photo: Renee Comet / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Source: Green Queen
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