The increasing demand for protein-rich, plant-based foods has driven the development of meat analogs that closely mimic the texture and mouthfeel of animal meat. While plant-based fibrils and electrospun silk fibroin fibers have been explored for texture enhancement and scaffolding in both meat analogs and cell-based meats, the use of wet-spun fibroin protein fibers as a food ingredient remains underexplored. This study investigates the potential of wet-spun recombinant fibroin fibers to enhance the textural properties of meat analogs. Short fibers, with varying tensile strengths and diameters, were incorporated into a commercial ground pork analog to create improved patty samples. The results showed that adding hydrophilic, 30 μm-diameter, 3-mm short protein fibers at 1% (w/w) significantly increased the springiness of the pork analog by 45%. Additionally, fiber sheets designed to mimic the endomysium structure of intramuscular connective tissue were integrated into the minced pork analog using a three-dimensional needle punching technique. This approach successfully recreated the interlacing endomysium structure found in whole-muscle pork, yielding a texture that closely matched the slice shear force, springiness, and cohesiveness of traditional pork. In conclusion, the incorporation of wet-spun protein fibers offers a promising strategy to enhance the textural qualities of meat analogs, making them more comparable to animal meat and potentially more appealing to consumers seeking high-quality plant-based alternatives.
{"title":"Enhancing Meat Analog Texture Using Wet-Spun Fibroin Protein Fibers: A Novel Approach to Mimic Whole-Muscle Meat","authors":"Rita Chuang, Arin Naidu, Josephine Galipon","doi":"10.1111/jtxs.70001","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jtxs.70001","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The increasing demand for protein-rich, plant-based foods has driven the development of meat analogs that closely mimic the texture and mouthfeel of animal meat. While plant-based fibrils and electrospun silk fibroin fibers have been explored for texture enhancement and scaffolding in both meat analogs and cell-based meats, the use of wet-spun fibroin protein fibers as a food ingredient remains underexplored. This study investigates the potential of wet-spun recombinant fibroin fibers to enhance the textural properties of meat analogs. Short fibers, with varying tensile strengths and diameters, were incorporated into a commercial ground pork analog to create improved patty samples. The results showed that adding hydrophilic, 30 μm-diameter, 3-mm short protein fibers at 1% (w/w) significantly increased the springiness of the pork analog by 45%. Additionally, fiber sheets designed to mimic the endomysium structure of intramuscular connective tissue were integrated into the minced pork analog using a three-dimensional needle punching technique. This approach successfully recreated the interlacing endomysium structure found in whole-muscle pork, yielding a texture that closely matched the slice shear force, springiness, and cohesiveness of traditional pork. In conclusion, the incorporation of wet-spun protein fibers offers a promising strategy to enhance the textural qualities of meat analogs, making them more comparable to animal meat and potentially more appealing to consumers seeking high-quality plant-based alternatives.</p>","PeriodicalId":17175,"journal":{"name":"Journal of texture studies","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11704076/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142950697","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}