Meat-like food products

Abstract

Provided are food products that have structures, textures, and other properties comparable to those of animal meat, and that may therefore serve as substitutes for animal meat. Also provided are processes for production of such ground meat-like food products.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority from Provisional Application Ser. No. 62 / 244,092 filed on Oct. 20, 2015; Provisional Application Ser. No. 62 / 250,161 filed on Nov. 3, 2015; and Provisional Application Ser. No. 62 / 339,765 filed on May 20, 2016; which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]Provided are food products that are not derived from animals but that may serve as substitutes for animal meat or products derived from animal meat because they provide textural and other properties, nutritional benefits, use versatilities, cooking experiences, and eating experiences that are comparable or superior to those of animal meat or meat derived products. Also provided are processes for production of such meat-like food products.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Animal meat is one of the most versatile protein-rich food products available. However, the health and environmental benefits of vegetarian an...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006]One aspect of the present invention provides meat-like food products that comprise at least about 25% by weight of one or more meat structured protein products bound together by one or more binding agents so as to produce food products that have one or more similar or superior attributes compared to animal meat. In some embodiments, the meat-like food products comprise two or more meat structured protein products having different attributes. In some embodiments, the meat-like food products further comprise one or more agent release systems that impart meat-like attributes to the meat-like food products such that the meat-like food products better simulate animal meat. The agent release systems can be distributed in the meat-like food products uniformly or non-uniformly. The agents to be released comprised in the agent release systems can impart or enhance meat-like attributes when comprised in the agent release systems and / or after trigger conditions cause their release from the agent release systems. In some embodiments, the agent releases systems are emulsions. In some embodiments, the agent release systems are gels. In some embodiments, the agent release systems are encapsulates.

Problems solved by technology

However, such efforts have had limited success, and accordingly consumer satisfaction with and acceptance of the new food products have been low.

Instead, the available products have looser and less complex protein structures that disassemble easily during chewing, requiring an unsatisfactory, diminutive bite force and chewing time, and imparting sensations of “mealiness”, “rubberiness”, “sponginess”, and / or “sliminess”.

The new food products also cannot trap moisture and flavor effectively.

Furthermore, many of the available products comprise agents such as gluten or soy protein that cannot be consumed by an increasing number of people who are sensitive to these agents or who prefer to not consume them.

Lastly, production processes for many currently available meat-like food products are cumbersome, time-consuming, and costly.

In sum, there are currently no plant-derived food products available to consumers that provide as comparable a textural and sensory experience, nutritional benefit, use versatility, cooking experience, and eating experience, and as cheap and as versatile a source of protein, as animal meat.

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