Background

Animal-derived protein foods, such as meat, have a large impact on the environment. Meat analogues are products that replace meat in its functionality, i.e. have similar product properties and sensory attributes, which is achieved by the fibrous nature of those products.

Scope and approach

The techniques used to make fibrous products that mimic muscle meats are outlined and categorized based on their approach. The bottom-up approach refers to assembly of structural elements that are combined. The top-down approach refers to structuring of biopolymer blends using an overall force field. The strengths and weaknesses of these approaches are discussed in terms of ingredient and equipment use, (achievable) product resemblance, robustness, scalability, and resource efficiency. To enlarge the theoretical framework, the techniques with the top-down strategy are further contextualized by relating to structure formation processes of materials with other applications, and the methods to analyse the fibrous structures are further outlined.

Key findings and conclusions

Techniques that follow the bottom-up strategy have the potential to resemble the structure of meat most closely, by structuring the proteins hierarchically through assembly of individual structural components. The top-down strategy is better scalable, is more efficient in its use of resources, but can only create the desired structure on larger length scales. Significant progress has been made on the methods to analyse structured products from the last category. Most analysis methods focussed on the (micro)structural anisotropy of the fibrous products, however there is also a need for methods that allow in situ analysis of the evolution of the structure during processing.

中文翻译：

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肉类似物的构建过程

背景

动物性蛋白质食品（例如肉类）对环境影响很大。肉类类似物是在功能上替代肉类的产品，即具有相似的产品属性和感官属性，这是通过这些产品的纤维性质实现的。

范围和方法

根据其方法概述和分类了用于制造模仿肌肉肉的纤维产品的技术。自下而上的方法是指将组合的结构元素组装在一起。自上而下的方法是指使用整体力场对生物聚合物混合物进行结构化。从成分和设备使用，（可实现的）产品相似性，健壮性，可伸缩性和资源效率方面讨论了这些方法的优缺点。为了扩大理论框架，通过与材料在其他应用中的结构形成过程相关联，对自上而下策略的技术进行了进一步的背景介绍，并进一步概述了分析纤维结构的方法。

主要发现和结论

遵循自下而上策略的技术有可能通过组装单个结构成分来层次化结构化蛋白质，从而最紧密地模仿肉的结构。自上而下的策略可扩展性更好，资源使用效率更高，但只能在更大的长度范围内创建所需的结构。在分析上一类结构化产品的方法上已经取得了重大进展。大多数分析方法集中于纤维产品的（微观）结构各向异性，但是，还需要能够对加工过程中的结构演化进行原位分析的方法。