Advances in structure formation of anisotropic protein-rich foods through novel processing concepts

Development of protein-rich food products is currently limited by lack of scientific insights in structuring processes. The application of well-defined flow appears to be a good tool to create novel anisotropic food structures, on one hand, and to improve understanding of the behavior of protein-rich materials during processing, on the other hand. Concentrated protein dispersions show similarities with polymer systems under flow. Also in protein dispersions, the size of structural elements and interactions present account for structural changes due to flow. These insights can form a basis for the design of dedicated food structuring equipment.