Plant-Based Foods and Alternatives

Plant-based alternatives

How do you ensure that a pea-protein meat substitute is juicy and tasty? How do you prevent protein from clotting in a beverage? Which proteins are suitable as dairy alternatives?
An increasing number of food manufacturers are bringing plant-based products to market. But they do not always know which protein to choose, and how to process this for optimal product quality. Wageningen Food & Biobased Research gives companies insight into the functional properties of proteins and helps improve them for the applications of interest. Manufacturers can thus bring more and better plant foods to the market, strengthening their market position.

From protein characterization to shear-cell technology

Wageningen Food & Biobased Research has all the essential knowledge, expertise and facilities to characterize the functional properties of proteins. To what temperature can they be heated? What are the solubility challenges? Why does our product have a bitter taste? Our experts have more than 30 years of experience in manipulating the functional properties of proteins; for example through recipe adaptation, enzymatic modification or extrusion. They also work on shear-cell technology and 3D-printing: pioneering techniques that will revolutionize the world of meat substitutes in the coming years.

Plant meat matters

Extra tasty, sustainable and affordable meat substitutes are almost within reach thanks to Plant Meat Matters (2017-2020). In this project, experts from Wageningen Food & Biobased Research and Delft University of Technology are investigating how you can use innovative shear-cell technology to produce products that are a match for meat in terms of texture, taste and nutritional value. They work together with suppliers, food manufacturers and other parties in the protein chain.