Effects of plant and dairy proteins on the texture and microstructure of lean turkey meat batters

The effect of using non-meat proteins (pea, faba, rice, whey, and caseinate; 2% level) on the texture, yield, and structure of lean turkey meat batters was compared to an all-meat control and a control with 2% added meat proteins. The best overall proteins were caseinate (animal derived) and pea (plant derived) which reduced cooking loss (P < 0.05, 60% compared to the two controls), while also increasing hardness over the first control treatment. Rice protein also increased hardness (P < 0.05) but did not reduce cooking loss compared to the first control. Part of this could also be seen under the microscope, where the caseinate and faba treatments showed denser microstructure compared to the rice and whey protein treatments; both had higher cooking loss. Overall, the meat industry is continuously searching for non-meat ingredients to enhance texture and yield and this study provides ranking of some new protein preparations.