Bacteria produce vegan alternatives to raw cheese and raw sausage [31.01.22]
Three departments within the Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology at the University of Hohenheim are researching a new product category among plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy products. They have received funding totaling approximately EUR 750,000 from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) for the collaborative project "Two-stage fermentation of plant-based raw materials for the production of vegan raw cheeses and raw sausage analogs", which elevates the project to a heavily funded research area at Hohenheim.
Products that are fermented with the help of bacteria, like their counterparts raw milk cheese or raw sausage, are a category that has hardly been represented so far in the expanding market of plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy products. The Hohenheim food scientists Prof. Dr. Herbert Schmidt, Prof. Dr. Jörg Hinrichs and Prof. Dr. Jochen Weiss, therefore, want to develop the basics for producing safe, durable and high-quality plant analogs to sliceable foods of animal origin. Their focus is on vegan foods.
In their production, special bacteria convert plant-based starting materials into products that appeal to consumers in terms of aroma, taste, texture, and appearance. It is also important that the products have the properties required by industry, such as sliceability, baking and melting ability. In addition, bacterial enzymes can break down antinutritive substances which, in humans, can impair the processing of nutrients or digestion.
In addition, the bacteria also improve the nutritional value of these plant-based alternative products. For example, they can form essential amino acids or vitamins (such as vitamin B12) that are not or hardly present in the plant starting materials. For all this, the Hohenheim researchers need to develop new processes and find suitable bacterial cultures.
Project details
- Title: Two-stage fermentation of plant-based raw materials for the production of plant-based alternatives to raw sausage and raw milk cheese
- Funding amount: EUR 750,000
- Funding institution: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) via the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations (AiF) / Research Circle of the Food Industry e.V. (FEI)
- Project duration: 1 September 2021-29 February 2024
Contact
Prof. Dr. Herbert Schmidt, University of Hohenheim, Department of Food Microbiology and Hygiene
+49 711 4592-24434, herbert.schmidt@uni-hohenheim.de
Prof. Dr. Jörg Hinrichs, University of Hohenheim, Department of Dairy Science and Dairy Technology
+49 711 459-23961, eidner@uni-hohenheim.de
Prof. Dr. Jochen Weiss, University of Hohenheim, Department of Food Material Science
+49 711 459-24416, j.weiss@uni-hohenheim.de
Heavyweights of research
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