NEW TECH FOODS

Researchers from Brazil's Federal Center for Technological Education of Minas Gerais and the Federal University of Minas Gerais have introduced a novel solution to one of the biggest challenges in alternative protein development: replicating the fat characteristics of conventional meat.

Their study, published in Applied Food Research, details the creation of edible, sodium alginate-based microspheres encapsulating canola oil, designed to enhance texture, juiciness and flavour in plant-based and cultured meat products.

Addressing fat challenges in alternative proteins

Fat plays a critical role in delivering meat’s organoleptic properties – such as taste, juiciness and mouthfeel – yet incorporating it into meat analogs remains a technical hurdle. Plant-based products often use vegetable oils, which are prone to leaching and oxidation during cooking, while cell-based meat faces difficulties in co-culturing muscle and adipose cells due to differing growth media requirements.

The team’s approach uses microencapsulation, a technology commonly employed in food and pharmaceutical applications, to stabilise vegetable oils and control their release during cooking and digestion. By embedding canola oil within an alginate hydrogel matrix, researchers created microspheres that mimic the functional characteristics of animal fat while offering improved handling and shelf-life stability.

How it works

Using sodium alginate, a biocompatible and food-safe polysaccharide, researchers formed microspheres through an emulsion extrusion process crosslinked with calcium chloride. The study tested alginate concentrations from 0.5% to 3% (w/v) and oil loads of 20%, 40% and 60% (v/v), analysing encapsulation efficiency, stability and sphericity.

Key findings include:

• High stability and encapsulation efficiency: Microspheres crosslinked with 50 mM CaCl₂ achieved near 100% stability and encapsulation rates of up to 70% at optimal formulations.

• Size and shape control: Higher alginate concentrations produced more spherical microspheres, which is essential for mimicking marbling in meat products.

• Non-toxicity: Cytotoxicity tests with chicken primary muscle cells confirmed that the microspheres did not impair cell viability, supporting their use in hybrid or fully cultured meat systems.

Implications for cultured meat production

One of the major technical challenges in cultured meat is co-culturing muscle cells with fat cells to replicate natural fat distribution. The use of pre-formed edible fat microspheres could bypass this step, simplifying the process and lowering production costs. The study said that "this approach is even more strategic when thinking of a deliberate approach to accelerating the entry of cultured meat products into the market."

Additionally, these microspheres could function as microcarriers during cell proliferation phases in bioreactors – combining the roles of structural support and fat delivery in a single edible component.