High-protein plant-based cheese analogue

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The world's population is expected to reach 9 billion by the year 2050, meaning more mouths to feed. Currently, animal proteins and animal by-products such as milk and cheese generate the greatest amounts of greenhouse gas emissions per unit mass of protein. Moreover, the climate crisis is worsening, resulting in severe droughts with adverse consequences for agriculture and food security. It is evident that we cannot continue to rely on animal-based products for our expanding food needs. For these reasons, along with several ethical quandaries, there has been a shift to more sustainable alternatives in the form of plant-based foods. Recently, the demand for plant-based foods has outpaced the demand for animal-based products several fold, driven by milk and meat analogues. Cheese analogues, however, lag significantly behind, both from nutritional and functional perspectives, since they contain little to no protein and do not stretch and melt as their dairy counterparts. Here we propose to develop a high-protein cheese analogue product with melting, stretching and oil binding properties that resemble those of dairy cheese. The approach taken is based on our discovery that certain starches can be used as a functional matrix where different proteins can be added as "fillers" at high mass fractions, creating specific particle-filled polymer networks with the desired sensory, physical, and nutritional functionality. We will characterize the physical properties of many plant proteins (pea, lentil, fava, lupin, chickpea, bean, among others) and correlate these with extensional rheological parameters and thermal softening ("melting"). We will also determine how processing the proteins changes their physical state and thus functionality. The ultimate aim is that any protein can be manipulated to work well as a filler in a cheese analogue matrix. This will be very useful for industry since there is less reliance on one or two specific ingredients, allowing for optimization of nutrition, sensory experience, functionality, and cost. Daiya is the #1 North American brand in the vegan cheese category. The technology developed here will ensure continued success and help them become the leading worldwide brand in the category.