Changes in conformation and quality of vegetable protein during texturization process by extrusion

Abstract

Texturized Vegetable Protein (TVP), as meat analogs, has garnered attention due to the nutritional advantages it offers over conventional animal proteins. During the extrusion process of TVP, under the comprehensive effects of temperature, shear force, and pressure, complex conformational changes and molecular interactions amongst protein, carbohydrate, lipid, and other components occur, all of which influence the quality of TVP. Control of the extrusion process is still one of the largest challenges in its evolution. Therefore, this review aims to summarize the development and current status of food extrusion technology for TVP production and give detailed descriptions about the conformational changes of the main components during the extrusion process, focusing on the effects of barrel temperature, moisture content, feed rate and screw speed on TVP quality. Lastly, we discuss approaches to characterize the extrusion process and propose a new system analysis model.

Keywords:

• Texturized vegetable protein
• extrusion process
• extrusion parameters
• conformational changes
• extrudate quality
• characterization approaches

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Plan of China (2016YFD0400200) and the Science and Technology Innovation Project of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS-ASTIP-201X-IAPPST).