Meet me in the middle: Blending animal and plant ingredients
Although plant- and animal-based ingredients are often pitted against each other in the sustainability and health stakes, focus at this year's IFT was also on bringing them together.
Richard Ipsen, professor in food structure engineering at the University of Copenhagen, spoke of both the reasons why companies should be exploring animal and plant blends as well as the best ways to do so from a technical perspective.
He started off his talk by reassuring the meat and dairy sectors: “Vegetable proteins are not a threat!”
“I come from a country with a lot of rapeseed and a lot of milk so it was obvious to try and see what would happen if we mixed them.”
So what are the benefits? Apart from the sustainability arguments, blending animal and plant proteins can be beneficial for health, he said. Adding milk powder to soy yoghurts, for instance, can increase the conversion of soy isoflavone glycosides to a more biologically active form.
Dutch company Meatless is no stranger to blending animal and plant ingredients. It offers vegetable fibre made from lupine, tapioca, wheat and rice that is both fat-free and free from artificial additives such as binders or taste enhancers.
Director Jos Hugense told us: "It's used in the meat, vegetarian and fish industry to give products better texture by making them more juicy, making them sustainable and more healthy by replacing fat and meat. It's a high quality meat extender, much better than extrusion products. It's a new way of thinking!"
Hugense said the reason most companies chose to add Meatless fibre is not to cut costs but to improve the product.
