GB977239A - Improvements in or relating to protein food products - Google Patents

Abstract

In manufacturing a protein food such as artificial meat resembling bacon, ham, chicken or tuna meat, spun, edible protein fibres or filaments are impregnated with a binding composition consisting essentially of a mixture of albumen and gluten and/or defatted oilseed flour or meal, e.g. obtained from soyabeans, peanuts, castor beans and safflower seeds, and the impregnated fibres are then set-up as by heating them in steam or boiling water or by broiling or baking them, e.g. at 340 DEG F. The albumen is preferably egg albumen but may be albumen derived from animal tissue muscle, blood and milk or plant tissue. The gluten may be fresh or re-constituted wheat gluten. Preferably, the binding composition contains not more than 7 parts of gluten and not more than 4 parts of defatted oilseed flour or meal to each part of albumen, the parts being computed on a dry-weight basis. The fibres are prepared by dispersing a protein such as soya, safflower, maize, peanut or pea protein or casein in an alkaline aqueous liquid, spinning the the resulting dispersion, through one or more spinnerets or dies, into an aqueous, acidic coagulating bath and then neutralizing the fibres, e.g. to a pH between 4 and 7. The fibres may be stretched, e.g. to elongate them by 50 to 400%, during and/or after coagulation and they may be aged, for a week or longer, before being neutralized. The binding composition may also contain an emulsifying agent, a flavouring agent, a colouring agent, oil and/or fat. Specified oils are soyabean, cottonseed, maize, coconut, palm kernel, olive, peanut, sesame, safflower and cod-liver oil. Specified fats are tallow, lard, chicken fat and butter. These oils and fats may be partially or fully hydrogenated. The fibres may be impregnated with an aqueous emulsion containing a lightly hydrogenated mixture of cottonseed and soyabean oils, glyceryl lactopalmitate, monosodium glutamate, yellow onion powder, beef, ham, chicken, bacon or sausage flavouring, brown sugar, common salt, red dye, dried egg albumen, fresh gluten and/or toasted soyabean flour. Alternative emulsifying agents are specified. The fibres may be bundled into tows before being impregnated. The impregnated fibres or tows, e.g. cut into pieces, may be fried, smoked or dried, e.g. dehydrated at 70-150 DEG F. Alkali and alkaline earth metal sulphites and bisulphites may be added during or after impregnation of the fibres to tenderize them.