As more and more companies focus on whole-cut plant-based meats, some are relying on fat to produce highly desired marbled textures for consumers – could it be the new ‘holy grail’ for vegan steak?

Last year, scientists at Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences explored how people eat and chew their food, with the goal of discovering what they really wanted in terms of mouthfeel. Dividing them into chewers, crunchers, smooshers and suckers, the researchers found vast differences in texture preferences among Americans.

They then dove into burgers to find out what the perfect burger for all kinds of eaters could be. Chewers didn’t want a soggy bun, crunchers resented overly dry or chewy burgers, smooshers didn’t care for any gristle, and suckers wanted a burger that’s seasoned before it’s cooked. The distinct tastes are perhaps why it was surprising that when it came to steak, there was a common aspect favoured by all eaters: marbling.

Even for different reasons – the ageing process produces big gaps among mouth behaviours – higher-marbled steaks were preferred by all respondents. And it speaks to a wider issue in the plant-based meat industry, where texture is highly sought-after. Whole cuts have long been touted as the ‘holy grail’ of meat analogues, but with a host of startups now making these products, we may need to look at what it is that makes these cuts so desirable.

Plant-based meat’s texture is important, but marbling is tough

In marbled products like steak, the fat melts into the meat as it cooks, which results in a juicy, tender mouthfeel. Keying into texture is extremely important for plant-based meat brands, given that in the US alone, texture is the aspect of vegan food consumers dislike the most. In the UK, 51% of people say taste/texture is the biggest factor driving them away from meat alternatives.

Globally, too, plant-based meat’s texture is as important as their conventional counterparts for 75% of consumers, but only about 60% are actually satisfied with the former. “Consumers want a texture and mouthfeel that’s close to meat,” Shannon Coco, strategic marketing director at Kerry, told FoodNavigator last year. “Without this, the overall experience will be disappointing.”

But creating heterogenous products like marbled meat is a complex process, with companies facing difficulties “creating solid fat differentiated from protein and with a melting temperature gradient above room temperature”, as explained by the Good Food Institute.

Juicy Marbles’ whole-cut filet mignon

So what do you do? Some are working on specific technologies to overcome this hurdle. When Slovenia’s Juicy Marbles launched its filet mignon in 2022, it grabbed headlines across the world for its trademark marbled texture, which is created with its patent-pending, 3D-assembled ‘reverse grinder’ technology.

“Our business is based around the concept of protein texture – this is the defining factor that draws people to steak, when compared to a cheaper cut,” the startup told TechCrunch in 2021. “In the plant-based meat vertical, there has not been as much innovation in the whole-cuts space, and no one has come close to inventing a steak that resembles anything high-end.”

Using a grinder it calls the Meat-O-Matic 9000, plant protein fibres are layered on top of each other to mimic animal muscle fibres, with deposits of hardened sunflower oil adding a realistic fat-marbling mouthfeel. But if you go by anecdotal evidence, for many, Juicy Marbles’ steak resembles more of a brisket, braised beef or even pulled pork – demonstrating the challenge plant-based meat producers face in satisfying consumers’ textural preferences.

Nourish Ingredients’ precision-fermented fat

So, the key is fat – which is exactly what some companies are trying to innovate with. At SXSW Sydney in October, Australian startup Nourish Ingredients unveiled a “breakthrough fat” called Tastilux, which is designed to help plant proteins deliver the same taste, smell and experience as conventional meat. The proprietary fat relies on naturally occurring lipids scaled through precision fermentation, and enables similar cooking reactions when used in plant-based chicken, beef, pork and other alternatives.

“Tastilux represents a quantum leap in making plant-based meats live up to the rich, fatty taste and cooking performance consumers want and love,” said Nourish Ingredients founder and CEO James Petrie. “We saw an opportunity to revolutionise plant proteins by focusing on the power of fat. Most alternative fats simply can’t replicate the rich, authentic flavour of cooked meat.”

He explained: “So rather than take a plant-based approach, we analysed the most flavourful animal fats in their uncooked state. Then identified where we could find these in nature, without the animal. By fermenting only the most potent fats, we’re able to recreate the authentic meat experience.”

Swiss scientist’s pea protein beef

In 2022, Swiss material scientist Martin Hoffmann developed technology to create marbled plant-based meat, using a combination of fats and pea protein to make innovative alternatives to meat dishes like steak. He processed the pea protein with biochemical engineering techniques, turning it into a plant ‘dough’ that is pushed through a proprietary attachment and combined with other ingredients like fat.

The quantity of the oil – added as an emulsion – could be tweaked to ensure flavour-comparable as well as health-forward alternatives to beef. “You have to imitate something highly irregular,” Hofmann said. “Because when we look at one half of a steak, it tells us nothing about what the other half looks like.”

At the time, he predicted the technique would be market-ready within one year, with his technology assisting B2B customers in developing more realistic meat alternatives to persuade “people to give up cheap, factory-farmed meat”. So far, though, this tech is still in the development stage.

Project Eaden’s fibre-forward tech

Meanwhile, German food tech startup Project Eaden has also been banking on its technological prowess for its vegan steak, with a novel bio-fibre tech that’s similar to fibre-spinning for synthetic fibre, which is used across textile, aviation and automotive industries, among others.

Project Eaden is using the same technology for meat – and claims it’s highly scalable and affordable. It explains that these fibres can be designed with precision to meet technical requirements like elasticity, water-binding ability and strength. The ultra-thin fibres are bundled into strands replicating conventional muscle tissues and then blended with vegetable fats for a near-identical marbled plant-based steak.

“Both plant and muscle fibres are versatile building blocks with fascinating material properties, which is why so many of today’s high-tech materials are natural fibre-inspired,” said co-founder David Schmelzeisen. “For example, we use carbon fibre for rockets and satellites, and biomaterial-based implants for humans. Now, for the first time, we’re replicating meat, fibre by fibre, using proven and easily scalable textile industry technologies.” The company planned to go to market at the end of last year, but that hasn’t happened yet.

Planeteers and Handtmann’s novel solution

Most recently, German companies Planeteers and Handtmann teamed up to provide a way for plant-based manufacturers to develop meat analogues that feature not just marbling or fat layers, but also an authentic, fine fibrous structure.

Producers can merge a newly developed attachment for Handtmann’s filling and portioning systems with system solutions from Planteneers’ fiildMeat and fiildTex series. The latter is the basis for these meat and fat alternatives to steak, filet strips and bacon, which are produced with a flexible coextrusion system.

Manufacturers can adjust the size and shape and define the fat layers of the final products based on consumer needs. And depending on the fat ratio and the machine setting, asymmetrical fat marbling is possible. Plus, with a throughput of over a ton per hour, they can churn out large quantities of steak alternatives and meet the demands of larger trade partners.

Fat is crucial for marbled vegan steak

These are just a few examples of what companies are doing to meet consumer demands for texture and mouthfeel. Swedish startup Melt&Marble is leveraging precision fermentation to make realistic animal-free fats, while California’s Yali Bio uses the same tech to engineer alternatives to animal and plant-based lipids and fats for plant-based analogues, including meat.

Similarly, San Francisco-based Lypid has created a proprietary PhytoFat for plant-based meat, and is now launching meatballs to the US market. Sweden’s Mycorena makes fermented fungi-based fat to replace animal fats, while Barcelona’s Cubiq Foods is developing omega-3 fats for alternative protein. Hong Kong-based OmniFoods makes a vegan OmniNano fat to mimic the juiciness of conventional meat, and AI-led startup Shiru‘s OleoPro plant fat is geared at alt-protein applications.

And outside vegan applications, Silicon Valley’s Mission Barns is making cultivated animal fat, Dutch startup Upstream Foods makes cell-cultured salmon fat, while Singapore’s ImpacFat makes cultivated fish fat.

There’s a lot going on in the vegan marbled steak world, but the importance of fat is growing by the day. Can somebody claim the holy grail?

The post Is Marbling the ‘Holy Grail’ for Plant-Based Steak? appeared first on Green Queen.

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Military culture has always been a dominant driver of our food and cooking habits – by partnering with the US Army, can Impossible Foods bring about a new dawn for plant-based meat?

Today, Spam is a cult-favourite meat product in many parts of the world. It’s had some journey: it began as a military staple during World War II, created as a tasty, portable protein-rich food in lieu of hard-to-deliver fresh meat. That shot the inexpensive pork and ham blend to global popularity, with can sales eventually surpassing eight billion across six continents.

Spam was also looked down upon by the chef world for decades – but recently, they have embraced the product and come up with new ways to cook it. This re-evolution has travelled via social media, particularly YouTube and TikTok, putting Spam on the radar of both culinary enthusiasts and those previously indifferent to it. It’s a successful food product if there ever was one – and it all began with the military. Plant-based meat is undergoing a similar bout of confidence with the mainstream, as traditionalists look to keep it out and consumers question its prices and grapple with a mainstream media filled with “overprocessed” narratives.

If Spam’s journey is any indication, people will look past the processing eventually (especially if prices come down further) and take to meat analogues if authoritative and influential figures promote them. And that’s exactly what Impossible Foods’ partnership with the US Army could bring about.

The Californian company’s plant-based meats have already been available to troops in various food operations for the past few years, including at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland. But its latest move – which the team says was three years in the making – marks the first time it’s working directly with the US Army Central, which coordinates foodservice at the army-wide level, to serve Impossible products in various dining facilities overseas in the coming weeks.

“Our troops in North Africa, the Persian Gulf, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia will be able to enjoy our nutrient-dense and delicious Impossible Beef and Impossible Burgers that provide high-quality protein, fibre, and iron, with no cholesterol,” Impossible Foods CEO Peter McGuinness said on LinkedIn. “This is a very proud moment for our team and company, and such an incredible win to start the year.”

Speaking to Green Queen, the brand’s foodservice sales VP Erin Reynolds added: “It’s a real honour to bring Impossible to our troops overseas. Our work with the US Army Central has been years in the making, and this is a major milestone for us as a brand and as a category.”

How the military has influenced food culture

Impossible Foods will be hoping to be the new-age Spam with its US Army partnership. After all, the military has long been one of the most influential drivers of food culture globally.

It’s not just spam – bánh mìs, condensed milk, British curry, and even Coca-Cola are all staples because of wars and the military. For instance, condensed milk was developed during the American Civil War, using a vacuum operator to kill the bacteria in fresh milk and prevent contamination. And in 1941, Coca-Cola president Robert Woodruff promised that “every man in uniform gets a bottle of Coca-Cola for five cents, wherever he is and whatever it costs the company”, which led to the company’s proliferation in Europe and beyond.

It’s not just food either – many cooking and processing methods today are a direct result of technology developed by or for the military. Canned food was first invented to provide sustenance to troops, but its preservation and affordability led to it being popular with the masses. And the device initially designed for canning food, the pressure cooker, itself evolved into a household appliance. Similarly, microwaves exist because of World War II radar technology too. There’s also freeze drying, which was created to preserve medical supplies during the Korean war.

Even how food gets to you today is thanks in part to military applications of GPS technology which enables efficient tracking and transportation of ingredients, reduces waste and improves the freshness of produce. There’s a precedent for meat-free meals like Impossible Foods’ products can contribute to too: during World War II, rationing in Britain popularised dishes like mock goose (made from potatoes and sausages – though sometimes pork sausage was involved) and Woolton pie (a pastry filled with a mix of vegetables).

There are no vegan MREs in the US army

Veganism in the military has been a topic that has taken more prominence in the last couple of years, thanks to the passing of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act by the US House of Representatives in July 2022. One of the act’s requirements is that the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) produce a report on plant-based Meals, Ready-to-Eat (MREs), which are dehydrated field rations for troops in the US.

The act asked the DLA to conduct a study determining the demand for vegan MREs among troops by September 2023, with results expected to include cost and feasibility analysis to produce at least two plant-based MREs, service member demand, and an implementation plan.

The details aren’t out yet, but David Accetta, a public affairs professional at DEVCOM, told the Military Times last year: “The services submit statements of need to the Combat Feeding Research and Engineering Program each year, which are used to drive innovation and research, development, test and evaluation efforts to modernise field feeding capabilities. After development, all new operational ration components are warfighter-tested and approved before being transitioned to DLA for procurement.”

MREs have historically been meat-heavy, with vegetarian meals only appearing in 1986. The current menu of 24 dishes also only contains four meatless options, all of which are some form of pasta: vegetarian taco pasta, macaroni and tomato sauce, cheese tortellini, and spinach, mushroom and cream fettuccine.

There are financial incentives attached to this, according to one vegan Navy officer, who told the Guardian in 2019 that many of the military’s decisions are linked to industries subsidised by the government, such as dairy and meat. In the US, livestock farming receives 800 times more public funding than alternative proteins like plant-based analogues.

How many US soldiers are vegan?

“There may have been a vegetarian entree that was also vegan. To date, there has been no military service requirement for vegan MREs,” the DLA told the Guardian. But in January 2022, Mercy for Animals surveyed 226 American military personnel, finding that 3.5% are vegan. More tellingly, a total of 42% either didn’t eat meat, were flexitarian, or trying to decrease their consumption of animal products.

Likewise, 70% of the respondents said they choose climate-friendly food options if available, and 63% recognised that plant-based foods are more sustainable than their animal-derived counterparts. Many felt vegan food is healthier (52%) and provides more energy (51%) too, while two-thirds have noticed more people exploring this diet.

In terms of MREs, 81% would pick climate-friendly meals, and the same number of people feel the military should provide plant-based MREs. This is reflected by the fact that 63% would choose vegan over meat-based ready meals. It is unclear if Impossible Foods’ meat analogues will become part of a potential plant-based MRE, but there’s hope that the footprint of vegan foods will grow in the military.

In 2019, one vegan soldier successfully campaigned to include a plant-based main at every meal in a US Army dining facility. While there are no clear numbers for military personnel following a plant-based diet, the US could take inspiration from Israel, where over 10,000 soldiers are vegan, and organisations like Vegan Friendly arrange plant-based meals for soldiers with dietary restrictions.

“Now troops around the world, from the Middle East to the Philippines, have access to delicious, nutrient-dense meat from plants,” said Impossible Foods’ Reynolds. “That’s thousands of meals every day that can now be made with Impossible plant-based beef.”

So far, it’s been impossible to get much vegan food if you’re in the military – now, Impossible’s vegan food is serving up a solution.

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