From Bean to Burger: Food Disruption through high Moisture Extrusion technology

There has been an extraordinary trend toward plant-based diets in the last couple of years. More and more consumers are opting for vegetarian or vegan diets, or becoming flexitarians, reducing their meat consumption, and looking for attractive meat substitutes.

- Anubha Garg

In the social-media world, hashtags such as #meatfree or #govegan are among the most popular searches on Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms. Many people are trying to live more healthily and sustainably by re-thinking and re-evaluating their diets. Others are just curious about meat substitutes and are trying out the different products available on the market. It is now easy to spot such products in different supermarkets and the product portfolio for this segment is constantly expanding. These products are not only limited to plant-based burgers, chicken-like products, or minced meat, but there is also a large movement toward pork and fish substitutes.

THE ROLE OF HIGH MOISTURE EXTRUSION TECHNOLOGY

The versatile twin-screw high moisture extrusion technology has made it possible to achieve such a disruption in the food market. As the raw materials, mainly composed of protein concentrates and isolates, are fed into the extruder, the temperature, pressure, and shear conditions present inside the extruder enable restructuring of the plant proteins.