Project
The production of a new generation of meat substitutes using Shear Cell technology
Wageningen UR has developed Shear Cell technology with which fibrous structures can be synthesised for making a new generation of meat substitutes. The Ministry of Economic Affairs has commissioned designs for upscaling the technology to make it suitable for practical applications.
As a result of population growth and rising prosperity, global demand for meat will double by 2050. The development of meat substitutes that are more in line with people's expectations could become part of a sustainable solution to the increasing demand. However, in order make a meat eater choose meat substitutes, products have to be developed that are prepared in the same way as and have the same look, taste and texture in the mouth as real meat.
With current technologies, meat substitutes can be made with approximately the same texture as chicken meat. Wageningen University Food Process Engineering has developed Shear Cell technology with which fibrous structures with the potential to mimic pork and beef can be synthesised on a laboratory scale. The goal of this study, which was commission by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in 2012, is to lay a firm foundation for the next stage in the development of this technology - the transition from fundamental research (development of scientific principles) to applied research (development of technology). This stage will focus on resolving the problems related to scaling up production. In order to obtain insight into this, various designs for upscaling Shear Cell technology are outlined and discussed in this study.
Shear Cell technology
The Shear Cell technology developed by Wageningen UR is unique in the world. It can give the Netherlands a head start in meat substitutes, an area in which the country has assumed a pioneering role in recent years. The ‘proof of principle’ of the Shear Cell technology has already been supplied. Using various plant proteins as a basis, Wageningen University researchers have been able to form fibrous structures containing a clear hierarchy, which is one of the most important characteristics of meat. Both the process in which the fibres are formed and their length can be precisely regulated in the Shear Cell, which allows the product look, taste and texture in the mouth to be steered.
The study looks especially at two designs for upscaling Shear Cell technology - one for large-scale industrial production and one for small-scale production, for example, for retailers, food services, restaurants and household consumption.Meat substitutes
Shear Cell technology offers new possibilities for texturing proteins to transform them into fibrous products, such as meat substitutes, and specific benefits of scale.
In large-scale, industrial production, Shear Cell technology is more efficient in terms of energy input (25 to 40%) than contemporary extrusion technology. The investment costs are also considerably lower (40 to 60%).
In addition, Shear Cell technology appears to be the only technology that is suitable for the decentralised production of meat substitutes on a smaller scale, for example, in retail, food services, restaurants and household consumption. This type of production has the following advantages:
- Reduced energy requirement for cooling.
- Increased flexibility in production, improving the alignment of supply and demand.
- The possibility of making meat substitutes for specific target groups to meet particular nutritional needs (for example, non-allergenic proteins, essential amino acids contents) and textural quality requirements (for example, chewability).
- The possibility of improving the response to consumer demands related to the use of additives, fresh herbs and spices, and regional or biological ingredients.