Fake meat from by-product of soy milk production

A team of researchers from Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), Lithuania and the University of Helsinki have developed a meat analogue using fermented okara (soy press cake). The product is said to be nutritious with less salt and saturated fats and more flavour than real meat.

Although fermented foods are rich in nutrients and fermentation can produce ingredients that improve smell and taste, the researchers from KTU Food Institute were among the few who relied on this process in meat analogue production.

“Both business and science will have to reconsider the effect of using secondary raw materials, and it will benefit all the parties by reducing costs and saving resources,” said one of the authors of the study, Dr Alvija Šalaševičienė, the Director of KTU Food Institute.

Okara is the by-product that remains after pureed soybeans are filtered in the production of soy milk and tofu.

The researchers produced meat analogues by adding fermented okara to the plant-based matrices. Okara samples were fermented by applying probiotics L. plantarum P1 and L. acidophilus 308 strains. The products containing different amounts of fermented okara modelled under different conditions were then evaluated by the researchers.

The study concluded that the use of fermentation makes okara a suitable component for meat analogues. According to the sensory and nutritional analysis, the optimum condition for producing meat analogues was the application of 6% okara in the matrices fermented by L. plantarum P1, when the matrices and okara are maturated at 4 °C for 2 hours.

According to researchers, the meat analogues with fermented okara have more free amino acids, which make them more easily digested than meat. They also contain less fat and saturated fat but the same amount of protein as real meat — about 14-18% depending on different recipe variations.

“Non-hydrogenated oils containing only small amounts of saturated fat were used while developing our products. Thanks to the small amount of fat we were able to create characteristic flavours by using only 1% of salt. Among the 11 ingredients used in our product, [there] are only natural spices, pigments and aromatic compounds, and no preservatives,” said Dr Gitana Alenčikienė, senior researcher at KTU Food Institute and co-author of the study.

Currently, there are no commercialised meat analogue products with okara. However, the researchers are convinced their modelled meat analogue will find its way to the market.

Meat analogue with fermented okara is one of many products created by the researchers of KTU Food Institute. Recently, its pea-based meat analogue won the local innovation fair.

“Both meat analogues are nutritionally valuable: our product with fermented okara is more easily digested and the pea-based meat analogue is enriched with iron, which is very important for the normal functioning of the human organism. While creating our products we aim to solve at least one nutritional problem — be it calorie control, lack of fibre or iron, or sluggish digestion process,” explains Aelita Zabulionė, a researcher at the KTU Food Institute.

The study by Kaunas University of Technology and University of Helsinki researchers is called “Impact of fermentation of okara on physicochemical, techno-functional, and sensory properties of meat analogues”.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/4ChaN