TW202415296A - Artificial fiber meat - Google Patents

Abstract

An artificial fiber meat includes a plurality of fibers, in which each of the fibers has a modified cross-section, and each of the fibers includes 65 to 95 parts by weight of a vegetable protein and 15 to 35 parts by weight of an alginate.

Description

Artificial Fiber Meat

This disclosure relates to an artificial food, and in particular to an artificial fiber meat.

With the change of dietary concepts and the improvement of living standards, people not only focus on food and satiety, but also begin to pay attention to nutrition and health. Therefore, vegetarianism has gradually replaced meat and entered people's lives. In order to coordinate the traditional dietary flavor and vegetarian demand, artificial meat products such as vegetarian meat have begun to appear on the market. They not only have the taste of meat, but also will not cause obesity problems.

However, artificial meat products currently on the market are not widely accepted by all consumers because they are difficult to simulate the taste of real meat. In addition, most artificial meat products currently on the market are made by extrusion, so they are usually in block form and cannot have the texture and fiber texture similar to real meat. In addition, the low water content cannot provide a smooth and elastic taste, which greatly affects the simulation of artificial meat products.

The present disclosure provides an artificial fiber meat, which has a similar eating texture to real meat, thus having high simulation, and high water retention, and has a low water loss rate during high temperature cooking, providing a smooth and elastic texture, and is suitable for being prepared by a spinning process.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, an artificial fiber meat includes a plurality of fibers, each of which has a heterogeneous cross-section, and each of the fibers includes 65 to 95 parts by weight of plant protein and 15 to 35 parts by weight of alginate.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the area of the irregular cross section is between 27,900 square microns and 67,500 square microns.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the irregular cross-section includes an I-shape or an L-shape.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the plant protein may be, for example, soy protein, pea protein, corn protein or a combination thereof.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the plant protein includes soy protein and pea protein, and the weight of the soy protein is greater than the weight of the pea protein.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the fiber fineness of each fiber is between 15 μm and 200 μm.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the fiber is wet-spun fiber, electrospun fiber or melt-spun fiber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the weight average molecular weight of the plant protein is between 15 kilodaltons and 42 kilodaltons.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the artificial fiber meat further includes an adhesive attached between the fibers, wherein the adhesive is papain, egg protein, whey protein or a combination thereof.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the fiber is tested using standard specification ASTM D2654, and the moisture content of the fiber is between 600% and 815%.

According to the above embodiments of the present disclosure, since the artificial fiber meat of the present disclosure includes a high content of plant protein, it can have a taste close to that of real meat, thus having a high degree of simulation. In addition, since the fibers in the artificial fiber meat have an irregular cross-section, it can have a high water retention capacity, a low water loss rate during high-temperature cooking, and provide a smooth and elastic taste. On the other hand, since the artificial fiber meat includes an appropriate amount of alginate, it can be suitable for preparation by a spinning process, thereby having a texture and fiber texture similar to that of real meat.

The following will disclose multiple embodiments of the present disclosure with drawings. For the purpose of clarity, many practical details will be described together in the following description. However, it should be understood that these practical details should not be used to limit the present disclosure. In other words, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, these practical details are not necessary and therefore should not be used to limit the present disclosure. In addition, in order to simplify the drawings, some commonly used structures and components will be depicted in the drawings in a simple schematic manner. In addition, in order to facilitate the reader's viewing, the size of each component in the drawings is not drawn according to the actual scale.

The present disclosure provides an artificial fiber meat, which includes a high content of plant protein, so that the artificial fiber meat can have an edible taste close to real meat, thereby having a high degree of simulation. In addition, since the fibers in the artificial fiber meat have an irregular cross-section, they can have high water retention, low water loss rate during high-temperature cooking, and provide a smooth and elastic taste. In addition, by making the artificial fiber meat of the present disclosure include an appropriate amount of alginate, the artificial fiber meat can be suitable for preparation by a spinning process, thereby having a texture and fiber texture similar to real meat.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of an artificial fiber meat 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The artificial fiber meat 100 of the present disclosure includes a plurality of fibers 110, and each fiber 110 has an irregular cross section. In detail, an irregular cross section can be defined as a "non-solid circular" cross section, that is, except for a solid circular cross section, cross sections of other shapes all fall within the scope of the present disclosure. For example, an irregular cross section can be an irregular or regular cross section, such as a triangular cross section, a quadrilateral cross section, a polygonal cross section, a hollow circle, etc. For more embodiments of irregular cross sections, please refer to FIG. 2, which shows schematic diagrams of various irregular cross sections. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Since each fiber 110 has a special-shaped cross section, the fiber 110 can have high water retention and low water loss rate during high-temperature cooking, thereby providing a smooth and elastic taste. In a preferred embodiment, each fiber 110 can have a "I"-shaped or "L"-shaped special-shaped cross section, thereby having better water retention.

In the artificial fiber meat 100 disclosed herein, each fiber 110 includes 65 to 95 parts by weight of plant protein and 15 to 35 parts by weight of alginate. When the content (ratio) of the plant protein falls within the above range, the artificial fiber meat 100 can have a protein content close to that of real meat, thereby providing high nutritional value. In a preferred embodiment, each fiber 110 can include 80 to 95 parts by weight of plant protein, thereby further meeting the demand for artificial meat products with high protein content. In addition, when the content (ratio) of alginate falls within the above range, the fluidity of the spinning solution (for example, a spinning solution comprising at least plant protein and alginate) can be improved, thereby improving the spinnability of the spinning solution. This makes the fiber 110 suitable for forming a special cross-section through a spinning process and ensures that the artificial fiber meat 100 has a high protein content. Specifically, if the alginate content is less than 15 parts by weight, it will be difficult for the spinning solution to be stretched into filaments through a spinning process to form fibers 110 with a complete structure and an irregular cross-section; if the alginate content is greater than 35 parts by weight, the artificial fiber meat 100 will be brittle and inelastic, thereby affecting the chewing texture of the artificial fiber meat 100, and will cause the proportion of plant protein in the artificial fiber meat 100 to be too low (i.e., the protein content is too low), resulting in insufficient nutritional value. In some embodiments, the alginate may be, for example, sodium alginate, which is a safe food additive and has a significant positive effect on the spinnability of the spinning solution, thereby facilitating the formation of fibers 110 with a complete structure and a special cross-section.

In some embodiments, the cross-sectional area of the spinning nozzle opening (not shown) used to form the fiber 110 may be between 16425 square microns and 210000 square microns, that is, under normal conditions, the (cross-sectional) area of the irregular cross section of the fiber 110 may be between 16425 square microns and 210000 square microns. When the cross-sectional area of the spinning nozzle opening used to form the fiber 110 falls within the above range, the spinnability of the spinning solution can be improved, which is conducive to forming fibers 110 with irregular cross sections of various shapes. Specifically, if the cross-sectional area of the spinning nozzle opening used to form the fiber 110 is less than 16425 square microns, the spinnability of the fiber 110 containing plant protein and alginate is relatively unstable, and for the fiber 110 with a partially shaped irregular cross-section, it cannot be ensured that every fiber 110 has an irregular cross-section; if the cross-sectional area of the spinning nozzle opening used to form the fiber 110 is greater than 210,000 square microns, the fiber fineness may be too large, resulting in the artificial fiber meat 100 having too much toughness (chewiness) and failing to provide a dense texture. In a preferred embodiment, the cross-sectional area of the spinneret opening (not shown) used to form the fiber 110 may be between 27,900 square microns and 67,500 square microns. Taking the spinning nozzle opening used to form an "I"-shaped irregular cross-section as an example, the length of the "I"-shape can be greater than or equal to 200µm and less than or equal to 450µm, and the width of the "I"-shape can be greater than or equal to 100µm and less than or equal to 250µm; taking the spinning nozzle opening used to form an "L"-shaped irregular cross-section as an example, the lengths of the two strokes of the "L"-shape can each be greater than or equal to 200µm and less than or equal to 500µm, and the widths of the two strokes of the "L"-shape can each be greater than or equal to 90µm and less than or equal to 300µm, thereby not only the spinning solution can have better spinnability, but also the fiber 110 can have better water retention. In some embodiments, the spinning nozzle openings used to form the fiber 110 with an irregular cross-section may include 100 to 300 small holes, which not only allows the cross-sectional area of the spinning nozzle openings to fall within the above range, but also improves the density of the raw material stacking in the fiber 110, thereby giving the artificial fiber meat 100 a dense and simulated taste.

In some embodiments, the weight average molecular weight of the plant protein may be between 15 kilodaltons and 42 kilodaltons, which can improve the spinnability of the spinning solution, thereby preparing a fiber 110 with a stable structure and a special cross section. In detail, if the weight average molecular weight of the plant protein is less than 15 kilodaltons, it is easy to cause the viscosity of the spinning solution to be too low, and for the fiber 110 with a special cross section of some shapes, it is difficult for the spinning solution to be formed into a fiber 110 with a special cross section; if the weight average molecular weight of the plant protein is greater than 42 kilodaltons, it is easy to block the opening of the spinning nozzle, and the spun fiber 110 has a hard texture and cannot achieve high simulation. In some embodiments, the molecular weight distribution range of the plant protein may be between 15 kilodaltons and 165 kilodaltons, so that the artificial fiber meat 100 has a taste close to that of real meat, and thus has high simulation. In detail, since the molecular weight distribution range of the plant protein is wide, the structural state of the real protein in real meat can be simulated, so that the artificial fiber meat 100 has a multi-layered taste like real meat, and has high simulation.

In some embodiments, the plant protein may be, for example, soy protein (molecular weight distribution range: 15 kilodaltons to 165 kilodaltons), pea protein (molecular weight distribution range: 15 kilodaltons to 100 kilodaltons), corn protein (molecular weight distribution range: 24 kilodaltons to 42 kilodaltons) or an isolated protein of a combination thereof. In a preferred embodiment, the plant protein may be an isolated soy protein. It should be understood that the data of the above molecular weight distribution range is obtained by electrophoresis analysis, wherein the electrophoresis conditions are a voltage of 150 microvolts, a time of 60 minutes, and a sample volume of 20 μL. In some embodiments, when the plant protein includes both soy protein and pea protein, the weight of the soy protein may preferably be greater than the weight of the pea protein. In detail, it was found in some implementations that when the weight of soy protein does not exceed the weight of pea protein, when forming a fiber 110 with an "I"-shaped or "L"-shaped irregular cross-section, it is easy to encounter the problem of poor spinnability. This can be attributed to the larger weight average molecular weight (higher viscosity) of soy protein. Therefore, when the soy protein content has a certain level, the spinnability is more stable, and the formed fiber 110 can have a more stable structure.

In some embodiments, the plant protein may have a long-chain molecular structure, thereby improving the spinnability of the plant protein, making the fiber 110 suitable for being prepared through a spinning process. For example, before the spinning process, an edible base such as sodium hydroxide or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) may be added to the spinning solution containing the plant protein as a chain expander to expand the plant protein from, for example, a spherical molecular structure to a long-chain molecular structure. In addition, by adding an alkaline chain expander, the plant protein may have high solubility and high fluidity, which is beneficial to the spinning process. For example, in some embodiments, when calculated based on the total volume of the solvent (e.g., water) and the edible base in the spinning solution, the volume molar concentration of the edible base may be between 0.05M and 0.15M, and preferably 0.1M, thereby efficiently unfolding the molecular structure of the plant protein into a long-chain molecular structure.

In some embodiments, the spinning process may be, for example, a wet spinning process, an electrostatic spinning process, or a hot melt spinning process, that is, the fiber 110 may be a wet-spun fiber, an electrospun fiber, or a melt-spun fiber. In a preferred embodiment, the spinning process is a wet spinning process, so that the cross-sectional shape of the fiber 110 is better controlled and the fiber 110 with a more suitable fiber fineness is formed, that is, the fiber 110 is preferably a wet-spun fiber. In some embodiments, a calcium chloride ethanol solution with a weight percentage concentration of 5 wt % (the weight ratio of ethanol to water is 1:1) can be used as a coagulation bath in the wet spinning process, and wound up and dried at a rotation speed of 120 rpm to 140 rpm to form the artificial fiber meat 100 disclosed herein.

The fiber 110 disclosed herein can be prepared through a spinning process. In some embodiments, the fiber fineness of the fiber 110 can be between 15 microns and 200 microns, so that the artificial fiber meat 100 has a texture and fiber texture similar to real meat, and can also help stabilize the irregular cross-section of the fiber 110. Specifically, if the fiber fineness of the fiber 110 is greater than 200 microns, the artificial fiber meat 100 may be too chewy due to excessive toughness and fail to provide a dense texture; if the fiber fineness of the fiber 110 is less than 15 microns, the structure of the artificial fiber meat 100 may be too soft and chewy, and for some irregular cross-sections, the fiber 110 may be difficult to maintain the shape of its irregular cross-section, resulting in decreased water retention. In some embodiments, the fiber 110 may be a unidirectionally arranged long fiber (i.e., a longitudinally extending long fiber) to prevent the artificial fiber meat 100 from having the texture of reconstituted meat.

In some embodiments, the artificial fiber meat 100 may further include 0.2 to 7.0 parts by weight of a binder 120. The binder 120 may be attached between adjacent fibers 110 to provide adhesion between the fibers 110 and ensure that the fibers 110 maintain their profiled cross-sections to have high water retention. The binder 120 falling within the above content range can ensure that the artificial fiber meat 100 is not in an overly loose state without excessively affecting the texture and taste of the fibers 110, thereby simulating the block structure of real meat. In some embodiments, the adhesive 120 may be a natural proteolytic enzyme such as papain, egg protein, whey protein, or a combination thereof, so as to appropriately decompose the plant protein in the fiber 110 to adhere the fibers 110 to each other. In addition, by using natural proteolytic enzymes to appropriately destroy the tissue of the fiber 110, the artificial fiber meat 100 may have a smoother taste.

The following will refer to various embodiments to more specifically describe the features and effects of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the materials used, their contents and proportions, processing details and processing procedures, etc. can be appropriately changed without exceeding the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the present disclosure should not be interpreted restrictively by the various embodiments described below.

First, the components and contents of the spinning solution used to prepare artificial fiber meat are shown in Table 1.

Table I Spinning solution plant protein Alginate Soy Protein Pea protein Sodium Alginate Sample 1 65 parts by weight No Additive 35 parts by weight Sample 2 75 parts by weight No Additive 25 parts by weight Sample 3 85 parts by weight No Additive 15 parts by weight Sample 4 No Additive 75 parts by weight 25 parts by weight Sample 5 42.5 parts by weight 42.5 parts by weight 15 parts by weight Sample 6 63.75 parts by weight 21.25 parts by weight 15 parts by weight ＜Experimental Example 1: Fiber Spinnability Test＞

In this experimental example, each sample in Table 1 is uniformly mixed with a sodium hydroxide aqueous solution having a volume molar concentration of 0.1M. Subsequently, the spinning solution mixed with the sodium hydroxide aqueous solution is subjected to a wet spinning process at room temperature, and the coagulation bath used in the wet spinning process comprises ethanol and water in a weight ratio of 1:1, wherein calcium chloride is contained at a weight percentage concentration of 5wt%. Table 2 presents the spinnability results of each fiber when trying to use each sample in Table 1 to spin fibers with irregular cross-sections of different shapes and areas.

Table II Shape of the irregular cross section and area of the spinning nozzle opening "L" type 27900µm ² Long stroke length: 200µm Short stroke length: 90µm "I" shape 67500µm ² Length: 450µm Width: 150µm "I" shape 16425µm ² Length: 225µm Width: 75µm Sample 1 Spinnable Spinnable Spinnable Sample 2 Spinnable Spinnable Cannot be spun Sample 3 Spinnable Spinnable Cannot be spun Sample 4 Spinnable Spinnable Cannot be spun Sample 5 Cannot be spun Cannot be spun Cannot be spun Sample 6 Spinnable Spinnable Cannot be spun

From Table 2, it can be seen that if the fiber with an "L"-shaped cross-section is to be formed, when the area of the spinning nozzle opening is ^27900µm2 , samples 1~4 and 6 are all spinnable; and if the fiber with an "I"-shaped cross-section is to be formed, when the area of the spinning nozzle opening is ^67500µm2 , samples 1~4 and 6 are all spinnable. However, regardless of whether the fiber with an "L"-shaped or "I"-shaped cross-section is to be formed, sample 5 is not spinnable. It can be seen that when the weight of soy protein does not exceed the weight of pea protein, if the fiber with an "L"-shaped or "I"-shaped cross-section is to be formed, it is easy to face the problem of poor spinnability. On the other hand, if one wants to form a fiber with an irregular cross section of "I", when the area of the spinning nozzle opening is ^16425µm2 , all samples are not spinnable. <Experimental Example 2: Test of water content in artificial fiber meat>

In this experimental example, sample 1 in Table 1 was uniformly mixed with a sodium hydroxide aqueous solution having a volume molar concentration of 0.1 M. Subsequently, the spinning solution mixed with the sodium hydroxide aqueous solution was subjected to a wet spinning process at room temperature to form fibers with an "L"-shaped irregular cross section and fibers with a solid circular cross section, respectively, and the formed fibers were collected into a fiber bundle, wherein the coagulation bath used in the wet spinning process contained ethanol and water in a weight ratio of 1:1, wherein the weight percentage concentration of calcium chloride was 5wt%. Then, the fiber bundle was rinsed several times with clean water (pH = 7), and the fiber bundle was removed and spread out to dry, thereby obtaining the artificial fiber meat of each embodiment and each comparative example. Subsequently, the water content of the fiber in the artificial fiber meat of each embodiment and each comparative example was tested using the standard specification ASTM D2654. The test results are shown in Table 3.

Table 3 Weight (wet) Weight (Dry) Moisture content (%) L-shaped Embodiment 1 5.5048 0.6174 791.61 Embodiment 2 5.2531 0.7274 622.17 Embodiment 3 5.1368 0.5946 763.91 Embodiment 4 6.9037 0.7558 813.43 Embodiment 5 7.3265 0.9487 672.27 Embodiment 6 8.7254 1.2208 614.73 Embodiment 7 9.8512 1.2686 676.54 Solid circle Comparison Example 1 5.8045 0.9308 523.60 Comparison Example 2 7.2940 1.1498 534.37 Comparison Example 3 7.2402 1.0866 566.32 Comparison Example 4 6.5072 0.9970 552.68 Comparison Example 5 6.4472 1.0130 536.45 Comparative Example 6 7.7155 1.1435 574.73 Comparison Example 7 6.1194 0.9453 547.35

As shown in Table 3, the moisture content of the fibers in the artificial fiber meat of all embodiments is between 600% and 815%, while the moisture content of the fibers in the artificial fiber meat of all comparison examples is less than 600%, indicating that the artificial fiber meat disclosed in the present invention can indeed have a higher water retention capacity for the fibers with "L"-shaped irregular cross-sections. It should be understood that the specific calculation method of moisture content is: {[weight (wet) - weight (dry)] / weight (dry)} × 100%. <Experimental Example 3: Full texture test of artificial fiber meat>

In this experimental example, the texture profile analysis (TPA) was performed on the artificial fiber meat of Example 7 and Comparative Example 7 by simulating the chewing motion of the human mouth through the texture meter probe to obtain the hardness of each artificial fiber meat by compressing it twice. The test results are shown in Table 4.

Table 4 Embodiment 7 Comparison Example 7 Hardness(kg) 477.98±142.49 1578.08±667.66

As can be seen from Table 4, the hardness of the artificial fiber meat of Example 7 is significantly lower than that of the artificial fiber meat of Comparative Example 7. It can be seen that the artificial fiber meat of Example 7 can obviously provide a smoother and more elastic taste, and is very close to real meat in terms of eating taste, and has a very stable high simulation.

In summary, since the artificial fiber meat disclosed herein includes a high content of plant protein and an appropriate amount of alginate, it not only has a taste close to that of real meat and is highly simulated, but can also be prepared by a spinning process, thereby having a texture and fiber texture similar to that of real meat, and having a lower manufacturing cost than processes such as melt extrusion and three-dimensional (3D) printing. On the other hand, since the fibers in the artificial fiber meat have an irregular cross-section, they can have high water retention, a low water loss rate during high-temperature cooking, and provide a smooth and elastic taste. In addition, by configuring an adhesive between the fibers, the artificial fiber meat can further simulate a block structure like real meat.

Although the present disclosure has been disclosed in the above implementation form, it is not intended to limit the present disclosure. Anyone skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the protection scope of the present disclosure shall be determined by the scope of the attached patent application.

100: Artificial fiber meat 110: Fiber 120: Adhesive

In order to make the above and other purposes, features, advantages and embodiments of the present disclosure more clearly understandable, the attached drawings are described as follows: Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the structure of artificial fiber meat according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and Figure 2 shows schematic diagrams of various irregular cross sections.

Domestic storage information (please note in the order of storage institution, date, and number) None Foreign storage information (please note in the order of storage country, institution, date, and number) None

100: Artificial fiber meat

110: Fiber

120: Adhesive

Claims (10)

An artificial fiber meat, comprising: A plurality of fibers, each of which has a special cross section, and each of which comprises: 65 to 95 parts by weight of a plant protein; and 15 to 35 parts by weight of an alginate. The artificial fiber meat as described in claim 1, wherein the area of the irregular cross-section is between 27,900 square microns and 67,500 square microns. The artificial fiber meat as described in claim 1, wherein the irregular cross-section includes an "I" shape or an "L" shape. The artificial fiber meat as described in claim 1, wherein the plant protein is a soy protein, a pea protein, a corn protein or a combination thereof. The artificial fiber meat as described in claim 1, wherein the plant protein includes a soy protein and a pea protein, and the weight of the soy protein is greater than the weight of the pea protein. The artificial fiber meat as described in claim 1, wherein the fiber fineness of each of the fibers is between 15 microns and 200 microns. The artificial fiber meat as described in claim 1, wherein the fibers are wet-spun fibers, electrospun fibers or melt-spun fibers. The artificial fiber meat as described in claim 1, wherein the weight average molecular weight of the plant protein is between 15 kilodaltons and 42 kilodaltons. The artificial fiber meat as described in claim 1 further comprises: An adhesive attached between the fibers, wherein the adhesive is a papain, an egg protein, a whey protein or a combination thereof. The artificial fiber meat as described in claim 1, wherein the fibers are tested using standard specification ASTM D2654, and the moisture content of the fibers is between 600% and 815%.