Rheology changes in oil-in-water emulsions stabilized by a complex system of animal and vegetable proteins induced by thermal processing

•Animal and vegetable proteins were used to stabilize oil-in-water emulsions.•Combining animal and vegetable proteins produces a more stable filling.•The right proportion of animal and vegetable protein were optimised.•A meat filling was developed, to cope with processing, based on rheology behavior.

Mixtures of animal and vegetable proteins were used to stabilize oil-in-water emulsions of a meat rich filling. Collagen and pea protein, combined in different proportions for a total protein of 9 g/100 g were used to prepare oil-water emulsions, to develop a new meat product. Texture and rheological parameters were measured to evaluate the behavior of the emulsions. Temperature sweeps from 20 to 90 °C and back (0.5 K/min) were applied and the impact on emulsions structure was monitored, in the rheometer, through the changes on the viscoelastic properties. All the mixtures studied exhibited a shear-thinning flow behavior and showed different viscoelastic properties. The tested systems, exhibited an increase of both viscoelastic moduli on cooling from 90 to 20 °C, where the storage modulus is always higher than the loss modulus. This increase in viscoelastic functions should result from intermolecular hydrophobic driven cross-linking as well as some hydrogen bonds and physical entanglements between proteins molecules on gel formation induced by the heating/cooling cycles. The 3:1 mixture of collagen and pea protein showed to be a potential formulation for the new meat-product development, as it shows texture values and rheological features according to product specifications.