Research Progress of Soy Protein in the Application of Biomimetic Food
Abstract: Soy protein is a high-quality plant-based protein with a complete variety of amino acids. It contains various amino acids necessary for the human body. It can significantly reduce blood cholesterol. Long-term consumption of soy protein can reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease. Soy protein is made of low-temperature desolubilized soybean meal as raw material, separated and extracted soybean protein concentrate, soybean protein isolate, and extruded soybean tissue protein and other soybean products. At present, the commonly used soy protein products on the market are mainly soy protein isolate and soy textured protein. Using the excellent functional properties of soy protein, it can be applied to a variety of food systems.
Biomimetic food is also called artificial food. It is the result of the application of bionic technology in the food industry. It simulates natural food in terms of shape, flavor or nutrition, making the product easy to eat, nutritious and healthy, and low in price. Soy protein is a commonly used additive or raw material for bionic food. With its good functional properties, it can significantly improve the taste of food, increase food elasticity, water retention, chewiness, etc., while also reducing production costs.
Keywords: Soy protein, bionic food, application
1. Bionic food classification
According to the nutrient content of the imitated natural foods, and using ordinary foods containing similar ingredients as raw materials, various foods can be made into bionics. The development of bionic food is relatively fast in foreign countries. In our country, bionic food has developed from simple shape bionics and flavor simulation to functional bionics and the bionic research stage of processing process. At present, there is no unified standard for bionic food in our country, and most of the soybean bionic food production enterprises are based on the corporate standards of soybean products.
1.1 Bionic sea food
Biomimetic marine food is a new kind of food with marine resources as the main raw material, and the flavor, taste, and nutritional value prepared through food processing technology are similar to those of natural marine food. It is made of low-value fish and shrimp as the main raw materials, and then added with soy protein, egg white, cheese, seasonings, pigments and binders and other auxiliary materials, processed by protein pretreatment, seasoning, molding and other procedures.
1.2 Bionic meat products
The vegetable protein is rehydrated, dehydrated and then subjected to spinning treatment. At the same time, a certain amount of water, starch, seasonings, spices, flavors and pigments are mixed into a uniform slurry with a mixer, and then mixed with the vegetable protein, after forming, Processes such as cooking or frying into protein bionic meat products. Common bionic meat products include bionic ham, bionic ham sausage, bionic meatballs, and bionic meat products.
1.2.1 Bionic ham, ham sausage
The processing technology of bionic ham and bionic ham sausage is to soak the soy tissue protein in water. After it fully absorbs the water inside and outside, it is dehydrated and put into a chopper for use. Pour the auxiliary materials and ice water into the mixer to fully emulsify. The mixture is uniform; the processed soy protein is added to the emulsified slurry and stirred until uniform; the mixed material is quantitatively punched and filled into a fiber casing of a certain diameter with moderate tightness; the finished product is packaged after cooking, sterilization, and cooling.
1.2.2 Bionic meat
Bionic meat products mainly refer to dried meat, meat pieces, patties, dried meat, etc. The processing technology is basically to first soak the tissue protein in water to make it meaty; mix the soaked tissue protein with a certain proportion of auxiliary materials, seasonings, etc. evenly; use methods such as steaming, frying, baking, etc. Forming; packaging after cooling, which is the finished product.
1.2.3 Bionic Meatballs
Soak the soy protein in water for soaking until there are no hard lumps inside, then put it in a chopper and beat it into filaments; mix the soy protein isolate and starch with water to form a uniform emulsion, and then the silk Add the textured soy protein and mix evenly, add seasonings and other auxiliary materials at the end, stir and mix to make the materials cross-linked into a mass; extrude the materials into a ball by hand, or shape them with a ball forming machine and boil them in hot water. When the balls rise to the surface, remove the balls and cool them to room temperature; pack the balls and freeze them at 18°C.
1.3 Bionic fermented food
Biomimetic fermented food refers to the use of microbial metabolic activities to simulate the specific biological transformation process of nature or the human body under artificial control conditions, and process and pre-treat food raw materials to produce a biological food that is easily absorbed by the human body. In recent years, the bionic fermentation method has been adopted in the manufacture of pollen food. Under artificial control conditions, lactic acid bacteria isolated and screened from the hive are used to simulate the temperature and humidity in the hive to ferment and break the wall on the pollen to obtain artificial bee food. This product provides people with a new kind of bionic food. Due to the low water content, it is beneficial to extend the shelf life of the product.
1.4 Bionic Candied Fruit
Biomimetic preserved fruit refers to a product that uses plant tissue protein as the main raw material and is processed through processes such as deodorization, sugar preparation, flavoring, color mixing, drying, and sterilization. The preserved fruit produced by this process is sweet, delicious and nutritious. The development of bionic preserved fruit provides a new way for the deep processing of soy protein products.
2. Research progress of soy protein in the application of biomimetic food
2.1 Application research in bionic marine food
Adding soy protein to the raw materials of biomimetic marine food not only improves the nutritional value of the food, but also increases the gel and tissue formation of the product, which has a great effect on improving the taste and texture of the product. Wang Fenfen and others studied the effects of different supplementary ingredients such as soybean protein, corn starch, salt, etc. on the quality characteristics of bionic marine products, and determined the best ratio of salt, soybean protein, and corn starch through experiments. The “Seafood Hui” produced by this ratio has uniform texture, moderate hardness, elasticity, good chewiness and delicious taste.
Research experts introduced several bionic marine food processing technologies. Adding soy protein to the production of artificial shrimps can improve the taste of artificial shrimps and increase the water retention and cohesiveness of the products. Using surimi as raw materials, adding soy protein, oil and seasonings, the fish tofu bionic marine food made with high elasticity, good taste and high nutritional value.
2.2 Application research in bionic ham and ham sausage food
Based on the good chewing, rehydration, oil absorption and other characteristics of soy textured protein, it can be used to replace lean meat in various meat products and bionic foods. The simulated smoked ham is produced with soy silky protein as raw material. Through experiments, it is found that the added amount of soy silky protein has a greater impact on product quality, and it is determined that when the optimal ratio is 50%, the product tastes tender and crispy and has strong chewiness.
Research experts have studied the production and processing of vegetarian ham, adding gluten, starch, vegetable oil, seasonings and other auxiliary materials to the main raw material soybean silk protein, and determined the best technological formula through orthogonal experiments. The sensory analysis of vegetarian ham proved that the soy silky protein has good functional properties, such as chewiness, oil absorption, water absorption, etc., which can replace lean meat and is widely used in vegetarian bionic food.
The researcher took the tissue protein soy protein as the research object, and obtained the optimal process conditions for the wet heat treatment of the tissue protein. At the same time, the processed tissue protein was used to make a vegetarian bionic ham sausage. (Water content 65%) as the benchmark, the best ratio is 150% water, 12% corn starch, 12% soybean oil, and 6% compound glue. Using soy protein as the main raw material, Wang Kaimei conducted experiments on the processing technology of instant vegetarian meat sausages. The ready-to-eat vegetarian meat sausage produced with this formula has a flexible and elastic mouthfeel. The product has similar appearance, edible flavor and chewiness to meat, high nutritional value, and low processing cost.
Researchers take advantage of soy protein isolate’s high nutrition, rich resources, and its superior emulsification, cohesiveness, and gel properties, and use it as the main raw material to process vegetarian sausage products with rich nutrition, good taste and convenient eating. In addition, the ratio of soy protein isolate, water, and vegetable oil was adjusted through experiments, which provided the main conditions for the formation of product taste, flavor and state. Using soybean tissue protein as the main raw material, adding konjac powder, protein powder and other auxiliary materials, Li Xuelian and others conducted experimental research on the production of vegetarian ham sausage, and analyzed the key control points of the processing process to ensure food safety.
2.3 Application research in bionic meat products
Researchers have developed soy tissue protein vegetarian meat block, which is processed with tissue protein as the main raw material and added with other auxiliary materials. According to the evaluation of sensory indicators such as hardness, elasticity, and brittleness, the optimal amount of raw materials and auxiliary materials is determined and produced. The vegetarian meat has strong texture, high protein, low fat and rich nutrition.
The biomimetic protein beef jerky was developed with the soybean protein as the main raw material. The experiment found that the factors that affect the quality of bionic egg white beef jerky are the structure of soy protein, initial cooking time, roasting temperature, roasting time, etc. The application of soy protein in simulated food has expanded the application field of soy protein and is of great significance to the development of new soy protein food.
The researchers introduced the process and operating points of processing vegan preserved meat with soybean tissue protein as the main raw material. Through experiments, the process ratio of vegan preserved meat was studied, and the best process formula was determined. The product produced according to this formula has the best taste and structure. Using textured soybean protein and konjac flour as the main raw materials, the vegetarian three-layered meat is produced and processed with a shape, flavor and texture similar to that of three-layered meat. The processing technology of the vegetarian three-layered meat is obtained through experiments, and the vegetarian three-layered meat produced according to this process is very similar in taste to the real three-layered meat.
2.4 Application research in bionic meatball products
Researchers have developed textured soy protein meatballs and analyzed the factors that affect the flavor of vegetarian meatballs (salt, sugar, beef balm, and MSG). The experiment determined that under the conditions of 30% moisture content, 20% soy protein isolate, 25% potato starch, and 6% soybean oil, the composition of the material system is in the best state; the amount of salt added is 4%, white sugar is 1%, and monosodium glutamate is 1%. , Beef flavor 1.5% is the best recipe for vegetarian meatballs.
The researcher used the textured soybean protein as the main raw material to make the balls, studied and analyzed the process formula of the textured soybean protein balls, and determined the best process parameters by measuring the texture characteristics of the balls. The results showed that the textured soybean protein had the greatest impact on the elasticity of the balls. Among the factors that affected the chewiness, recovery and sensory evaluation of the textured soybean protein balls, the soy protein isolate had the most significant effect.
2.5 Application research in bionic preserved fruit
Researchers developed a bionic preserved fruit using textured soy protein as a raw material, and studied the effects of three different tissue structures, such as the rehydration rate, standing temperature, and syrup concentration on the quality of the bionic preserved fruit, to obtain a bionic preserved fruit. The best process parameters.
Concluding remarks
As a new variety in the food industry, bionic food has broad development prospects. Due to the various excellent functional properties of soy protein, it has become an important raw material in bionic food processing. The development of soy protein bionic food is not only conducive to the development and utilization of soybean plant resources in our country, but also can be used as a supplement to animal protein to improve the level of protein consumed in people’s material life.