On December 14, the China Society of Food Science and Technology released the top ten advances in China’s food science and technology in 2022. The scientific research achievement of “Technical Innovation and Application of High Moisture Extruded Plant-Based Meat Products” completed by the Plant Protein Team of the Institute of Agricultural Products Processing, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences was successfully selected .

Aiming at the bottleneck problem of industrialization of high-moisture extruded plant-based meat products, the interaction mechanism of raw materials and components is unclear, and the key core process equipment is backward. Important breakthroughs have been made in three aspects.

First, he took the lead in revealing the interaction law of the three major components of protein, starch and fatty acid in the process of high-moisture extrusion, and proposed the theoretical mechanism of “layered transformation” for the formation of protein fiber structure.

The second is to build a mathematical model for precise regulation of the whole process of high-moisture extrusion of vegetable protein and the first visualization platform at home and abroad, realizing data change prediction and network sharing during the high-moisture extrusion process.

The third is to innovate the key technology and core equipment of high-moisture extrusion, and establish a series of key core technologies for industrialization such as high-moisture extrusion-enzymatic modification, online coloring and seasoning, and integrated molding.

The team has made systematic innovations and breakthroughs in the whole chain from the formation mechanism of protein fiber structure to key technical equipment and major product creation. It has published more than 30 articles in well-known international journals such as Trends in Food Science & Technology (IF: 16.002), and won national The number of invention patents accounts for 20% of the country, ranking first in the country. It passed the review of international peer experts headed by Professor Gerald G. MOY of the World Health Organization. The expert group believed that this technology has led the technological innovation and industrial development of plant-based meat products, and it is at the international leading level as a whole. Professor Patrick Brown, the founder and president of the company Impossible Food, spoke highly of it.

The technological achievements have been transformed and applied in many well-known enterprises, and a plant-based beef production line with an annual production capacity of 1,000 tons has been built. Air-dried beef and other products have been launched, and the economic and social benefits are remarkable.