Nestle Malaysia has pegged product affordability and versatility as its main plant-based strategies amid the official launch of the firm’s first ever plant-based production facility in the ASEAN region.
Australian plant-based firm Eighth Day Foods has developed a versatile plant-based meat alternative from sweet lupins, which it claims is ‘ideal for Asia’ via its specialised fermentation process.
The plant-based meat industry has largely been dominated by products made from common plants such as soy, pea, wheat, rice and so on, but Eighth Day Foods is pushing sweet lupins as one of the newest kids on the block to the market, citing heightened versatility and well-researched health benefits in addition to sustainable attributes.
The firm has conducted significant R&D into the processing of sweet lupins, and its patent-pending process based on solid-state fermentation has resulted in a product branded Lupreme.
Novel approach: Wheat gluten key to creating softer and less chewy texture in plant-based foods Plant-based foods formulated with more wheat gluten was found to exhibit softer and less chewy texture compared to commercial tofu, mock meat and animal meat products.
Also known as meat analogues, meat substitutes or meat alternatives, they are typically made from plant-based ingredients such as wheat, soy, pea, peanut, lupin, and mung bean, designed to mimic the appearance, colour, texture, structure and nutritional content of real meat.
In this study, researchers in Singapore formulated four meat analogues by combining wheat gluten (WG) and soy protein isolate (SPI) in the ratios of 100:0, 80:20, 60:40 and 40:60% w/w dry protein basis), using the mechanical elongation method.
UK’s plant-based firm VBites – owned by media personality and activist Heather Mills – is hoping to launch micro factories in the Middle East on the back of its regional expansion.