Dairy and plant-based interpenetrated protein network for flexitarian panela cheese production

Abstract

Current market trends gave rise to flexitarianism, a flexible type of vegetarianism. To respond to this rising trend, animal/dairy-plant hybrid products are being developed, with beverages and cheeses among the most popular. With the incorporation of vegetable protein into a dairy matrix being a challenge, because of the disruption of the original animal-based protein structure, processing treatments and techniques might be required to achieve flexitarian products similar to the 100% animal counterparts. Panela cheese is one of the most consumed in Mexico with sales reaching 15.4% of unprocessed cheese in 2020, being the objective of this work to evaluate the effect of enzymatically hydrolyzed soybean protein, calcium chloride addition, and transglutaminase polymerization treatment in the development of an interpenetrated network during the production of a flexitarian panela cheese with similar properties to the dairy-based cheese. These techniques create low-molecular peptides, neutralize the charge of caseins, and form isopeptide bonds, respectively, to aid in the incorporation of the vegetable protein. The development of the interpenetrated network was evaluated through the proximate, textural, sensorial, and nutraceutical characteristics of the product. Results showed enzymatic hydrolysis positively impacted the appearance and the antihypertensive capacity of the samples. Calcium chloride was found to improve the texture of the product and increased their ash content, while creating a stronger, more cohesive cheese than the counterpart. Also, transglutaminase and calcium chloride were promising to improve the textural and sensorial profile of the treatments. Lastly, since no protein content improvement was found, the whey analysis showed that the soybean protein isolate was being partially lost through the whey. Overall, the best performing treatments were TG+Soy+CaCl2+H and Soy+CaCl2+H, both from the second set of experiments, with the most similar textural and sensorial profile to control and adequate nutraceutical properties. In conclusion, enzymatic hydrolysis, calcium chloride and transglutaminase seem promising for the development of a flexitarian panela cheese. Our findings provide a better understanding about the development of an interpenetrated network. However, more research needs to be performed to identify the optimal level of each factor that creates a strong, cohesive, appealable, and tasty flexitarian product