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Plant-based meat analogues have been widely promoted as an alternative protein source to reduce consumption of meat for potential environmental and health benefits. However, despite rapid product development, many plant-based products still lack the structural and textural complexity of conventional meat.
In this study, different soy protein sources (isolate vs concentrate), with and without additional soy fibre, was used for high moisture extrusion cooking. Small- and ultra-small-angle neutron scattering techniques were used for probing the structural features, between 1 nm to 20 µm, of protein “dough” (before extrusion) and protein analogues (after extrusion). Complementary texture analysis and microscopy were used to relate neutron-derived length scales to fibrous alignment.
Distinct differences in hierarchical organisation were observed between soy protein systems of differing purity, reflected in changes in the network compactness. Fibre addition disrupted the structural continuity of a pure protein system (>90% protein dry weight). These neutron-resolved structural changes correlated with differences in fibrous texture and alignment. This work demonstrates the value of neutron scattering for linking structure across length scales in complex food systems and is intended to provide the structural basis for future in situ studies of the high moisture extrusion processing of plant proteins, linking dynamic structure evolution to processing and functional properties.