Ingredient Profile Development for Product-Specific Extrusion of Alternative Proteins

The sustainable transformation of protein consumption is essential to meet global food security and environmental goals. While extrusion is an established technology for plant-based meat analogues (PBMA), challenges in raw material utilization, upscaling, and product quality hinder broader adoption. This project aims to overcome these bottlenecks by focusing on the integration of underutilized, locally sourced raw materials – including oilseed press cakes, grain legumes, and fiber-rich side streams – with conventional protein isolates (e.g. soy, pea) to develop new PBMA prototypes and thus reduce the carbon footprint of the production and support circular food systems. The main objective is to evaluate the physicochemical and techno-functional potential of these novel raw materials, considering factors such as protein heterogeneity, antinutritional compounds, and preprocessing history, and how these influence extrusion behavior and final product quality. Using pilot-scale extruders, we will conduct trials at lab- and industry-relevant scales to assess scalability and parameter transferability, an unresolved challenge in extrusion science. Reverse engineering will also be employed to define target output characteristics. In the subsequent phase, culinary-technological optimization and shelf-life analysis will be performed. Purdue University will contribute to microbial assessments and conduct pioneering research on the effects of PBMAs on the human gut microbiome – a novel aspect of functional food research. This integrated, transdisciplinary project is expected to deliver scalable, sustainable, and nutritionally valuable PBMAs, while also contributing to scientific innovation, industry advancement, and the EU’s Farm to Fork and sustainability goals.