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Pulse ingredients audition for bigger role in meat products

albertapulse on January 3, 2018

Conventional binders like wheat crumb, soy protein and milk protein work well, but many consumers are allergic to them. Can pulse-based ingredients answer the call?

Many consumers enjoy a hot dog, bologna sandwich, burger or breakfast sausages from time to time. For many others, these products are off-limits because they’re allergic to the ingredients that are used as binders in these food products.

“This is done functionally to minimize the cost,” explained Zeb Pietrasik, Meat Scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry’s Food Processing Development Centre. “By binding additional water in there, they can increase their yield. But the ingredients they use – wheat crumb and soy and milk protein – can be allergenic too.”

If you took all the meat products in your local supermarket that contain these binders, it’s clear this is a massive market. Pulse-based ingredients might be able to create a win-win in this food processing category. By replacing allergenic ingredients, more consumers could buy these products. The resulting product would also be healthier for everyone.

In 2016, with principal funding from the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency (ALMA) and additional support from Alberta Pulse Growers, Pietrasik kicked off a two-year study. He aims to develop value-added meat products with non-allergen ingredients. Pulse ingredients are among the candidates.

Ingredient screening in ’16, product testing in ’17

Pietrasik began the project with a hypothesis that pulse ingredients ought to suit processors’ needs quite nicely.

“We’re looking at two meat systems,” he said. “The first group is a class of emulsified products such as hot dogs and bologna. The second group contains most burger patties. Pulses are perfect for these products, they are not out of line in terms of functionality.”

In the first year of the project, Pietrasik screened more than 30 different non-allergenic ingredients. These included pulse flours and the protein, starch and fibre fractions of faba bean, yellow pea and red and yellow lentils.

During the program’s second year, Pietrasik will narrow down the list of 30 to a short-list of the most promising non-allergenic ingredient candidates. Products will be developed and sensory-tested to produce final recommendations for meat processors.

“It is going well and the pulse ingredients are performing well,” Pietrasik said. “Pea starch is one of the best in both systems and pea protein has also performed strongly in beef burgers.”

For companies that process meat products, the addition of pulse-based ingredients as binders offers compelling advantages. People who are allergic to wheat, soy and milk-based ingredients will become potential customers overnight. Pulses’ nutritional advantages will boost the value of the final products.

The decision, of course, rests with the food manufacturers themselves. Once Pietrasik’s project is complete, he expects the case for pulses will be strong.

“Some ingredients might perform well in this type of processing,” he said. “They have good texture and high yield. A lot depends on the economics, but if they provide the same functionality, I don’t see any barriers for these to be used by processors.”

Project at a glance

Project title:                Developing value-added meat products with non-allergen ingredients

Project lead:                Zeb Pietrasik, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry

Total value of project: $183,250

Start date:                   February 1, 2016

Completion date:        March 31, 2018

More pulses in your pasta

albertapulse on January 3, 2018

Gluten-free ready meal products could be one way to get more pulses on grocery store shelves. This NAIT engineer is working with NAIT chefs to develop a line of products.

Alberta pulse growers are anxious to get their crops on Canadians’ tables more often. What are the best opportunities?

According to Paolo Mussone, two of the fastest-growing categories in the food industry could suit pulses very well: gluten-free foods and the ready meals now sold by many retailers. Put the two together and they spell what could be a significant market opening for pulses.

“Sales of gluten-free products in Canada were $5 billion in 2016, a 20% increase over 2015,” said Mussone, Applied Bio/Nanotechnology Industrial Research Chair at NAIT in Edmonton. “A lot of ready meals tend to contain unhealthy amounts of salt and sugar. We are trying to use pulse flour to develop a product that has all the fibre and nutritional value of pulses, but still tastes good, and would also be gluten-free.”

In June 2017, with Alberta Pulse Growers funding, Mussone began a six-month project to further develop a line of gluten-free ready meals based on pulse flour. The project will be a collaboration with Maynard Kolskog, a NAIT Culinary Arts instructor and food researcher, who already has a proven recipe for pasta dough made with pulse flour rather than wheat flour.

Mussone’s idea is to scale up Kolskog’s recipes and develop products, working with companies that manufacture lasagna noodles and agnolotti, which are similar to ravioli.

Recipe development, engineering and sensory work

Mussone and his chef colleagues will refine the recipes while developing characterization, testing and production protocols that will help local businesses commercialize the new dough concept.

Dough samples will be analyzed using advanced microscopy and rheology instrumentation that’s available at NAIT. Mussone’s nanotechnology expertise will help ensure the dough formulations can be scaled to high-volume industrial extrusion equipment. “When you remove the gluten, you lose elasticity,” Mussone said, “so the pulse flour will still need to have the level of elasticity that you want in products like lasagna noodles.”

There’s a lot more to producing gluten-free ready meals than perfecting the recipe and production engineering. Taste will make or break the success of these products as a potentially significant new market for pulses. As a final step in this project, sensory experts and panels at the University of Alberta will make sure the taste of these products will meet consumer expectations.

How much market potential is there in gluten-free doughs made with pulse flour? Even in this project’s early stages, the NAIT team has already been contacted by a pasta company and pizza dough maker expressing interest in this work. Mussone is confident that this project can eventually open new doors for pulses and pulse growers.

“I would confidently say that there is definitely large market potential for growth here,” said Mussone.

Project at a glance

Project title:                Develop a novel line of gluten-free ready meal products from Alberta-based pulses

Project lead:                Paolo Mussone, NAIT

Total value of project: $25,000

Start date:                   March 1, 2017

Completion date:        August 31, 2018

Market development opens doors for pulse flours in China

albertapulse on December 22, 2017

Three proof-of-concept projects enabled Chinese scientists and food companies to experiment with Canadian pea and lentil flours in popular Chinese food products.

China has long been considered a high-potential market for Canadian pulse crops, and the destination of many trade missions involving our producers, processors and other industry leaders.

In 2014, Pulse Canada took market development in a new direction. Working with the Beijing-based Chinese Cereals and Oilseed Association, the organization facilitated three one-year research projects conducted by Chinese researchers and food companies. This project was supported by the Canadian International Grains Institute and co-funded by Alberta Pulse Growers and Saskatchewan Pulse Growers.

“The idea is that, if we are going to interest Chinese companies in Canadian pulses, they need to be involved in the research early on in the development process,” said Tanya Der, Pulse Canada’s Manager of Food Innovation and Marketing.

A value-added opportunity for Canada

“These are staple items that are eaten by people from all walks of life,” Der said. “Whether you live in the north or south, you’re eating some version of these. If we can get these high-volume products to use flour from Canadian pulses, that can have an impact.”

The three lead researchers each worked with a Chinese food company that specializes in one of the three product categories. Each team received a supply of pea and lentil flours, milled in Canada from Canadian-grown crops. This ensured that the quality, particle size and functionality of the pulse flours would be consistent.

Co-operation between the research community and food companies allowed them to study how Canadian pulse flours perform when blended with Chinese-milled wheat flours in various proportions, and when processed in a commercial manufacturing facility. The addition of pulse flours – which are high in protein and fibre — would also enable the companies to improve the nutritional profile of their products.

Der emphasized that market development in China must be viewed as a long-term effort. Pulse Canada’s approach was to work with Chinese partners to introduce them to Canadian pulse flours and build relationships that can grow over time and pay dividends in the future.

“This was really the initial stages of market development,” Der said, “a proof-of-concept looking at what percentage of pulse flour can be used in these products, and what is the impact on functionality and taste?”

Building on the relationships and technical knowledge developed with these three projects, the next stage of Pulse Canada’s Chinese market development is now taking shape.

“We’re close to finalizing some new projects on product innovation and consumer research for Canadian pulses in China,” Der said. “We’ll be announcing these in the summer of 2017.”

Project at a glance

Project title:                Application of Canadian Pulses in Traditional Chinese Dry Noodles, Biscuits and Steamed Buns

Project lead:                Chinese Cereals and Oilseed Association, Academy State Administration of Grain and Henan University of Technology

Total value of project: $720,637

Start date:                   2014

Completion date:        2015

Faba beans could be a go-to protein for food companies

albertapulse on December 22, 2017

Over the past year, University of Alberta scientist Lingyun Chen has developed a soluble faba bean protein concentrate. Food companies are already lining up to get some.

Everyone knows that Alberta farmers love their peas. Lentils have surged in acreage over the past decade. Dry beans are grown in large quantities too.

Still, as Alberta pulses stake a claim for a bigger role as healthy food ingredients, faba beans could be the pulse to watch.

“Faba beans are higher in protein, between 28% and 32%, compared to peas which are typically around 22% to 24%,” said Chen, Professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of Alberta. “The food industry has been showing a lot of interest in faba beans because they’re cheaper than other pulses, even though it’s higher in protein. With the higher protein in the final product they could have a protein claim on the label and it would also be gluten-free.”

W.A. Grain and Pulse Solutions of Innisfail is one of the companies helping to drive Alberta pulses’ growth into food ingredients. The company believed that, if Alberta could develop a faba bean-based protein concentrate of around 60% protein, food manufacturers could use it as a key ingredient in everything from nutrition bars to protein powders to breakfast cereals.

In 2016, with funding from Alberta Pulse Growers, Chen set out to develop this ground-breaking food ingredient for Alberta.

Solubility a key consideration

As Chen explains, the solubility of protein is important for meeting the functional needs of food companies. She used a partial hydrolyzation process to increase solubility. After hydrolysis, she took steps to improve the colour of the material and then separated the different components. “For faba beans we are looking at the initial fractionation,” Chen said. “After pearling to remove the surface, we then make flour and separate the different components, so you get fractions that are rich in protein, rich in fibre or rich in starch.”

In just one year of work, Chen successfully developed a soluble protein concentrate from faba beans. It’s a product W.A. Grain and Pulse Solutions has been looking for as it aims to participate in the fast-growing global food ingredients market. An international company has also expressed interest.

The final phase of the project runs to November 2017, in conjunction with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry’s Food Processing Development Centre in Leduc. The team there will produce two or three food prototypes based on Chen’s protein concentrate, perform sensory testing, analyze the products’ nutritive value and compare the quality of the protein with and without the hydrolysis process.

Thanks to Chen’s work, food companies could soon have access to a made-in-Alberta high-protein concentrate from faba bean. It could the essential ingredient in a wide range of healthy food products, and another element in the growth of faba bean acres in Alberta.

“We have been working with pulse proteins for many years, and with faba bean protein the past two years,” Chen said. “It’s a niche that many companies are interested in.”

 

Project at a glance

Project title:                Value added applications of pulse proteins and fibre

Project lead:                Lingyun Chen, University of Alberta

Total value of project: $218,045

Start date:                   February 15, 2016

Completion date:        November 30, 2017

 

 

 

The future of pet food kibble: Enhancing plant protein bioavailability with enzymatic preconditioning

albertapulse on June 1, 2017

Pulse crops go to the dogs

A major trend in pet food manufacturing is using plant protein in combination with, or instead of, meat. For Alberta-grown pulses, it’s a huge opportunity and APG is on it.

It goes without saying that pet owners want to feed their animals the best nutrition available. For years, that meant meat and plenty of it.

Times are changing. Just as many consumers want more pulses in their own diet, they’re also demanding better options for plant-based pet foods. Observing this trend, University of Alberta professors Thava Vasanthan and Ruurd Zijlstra saw opportunity for pulse growers.

“We grow a lot of pulses in Western Canada,” Vasanthan said. “Pulses are not only high in protein but have very good protein quality, and the amino acid balance is much better than with cereal grains. Our question was, could we create a vegetable protein-based kibble that suits where the consumer trend is moving?”

In 2016, Vasanthan secured funding from Alberta Pulse Growers and others for a three-year study to develop pulse protein-based pet food kibble through lab and pilot scale studies. The work is being done in partnership with a leading Canadian pet food manufacturer.

Create the kibble, determine how to manufacture it

As Vasanthan explains, the pulse crops under consideration for pet food kibble are field peas and faba beans. Lentils could also work, but are currently far more expensive than the other pulses.

A key component of the study will be how to overcome antinutritional factors associated with peas and faba beans in a dog diet.

“Over the past year and a half, with funding from the Alberta Pulse Growers, we started the characterization of the grains and how to concentrate the protein,” Vasanthan said. “If you take field pea and faba bean, nearly 50% of the seed is starch, 25% to 30% is protein and the rest is fibre and other. But, high-fibre and high-starch is bad for dogs. So, we’ll try to process the grains to minimize the starch and the fibre but maximize the bioavailability of the protein through cost-efficient technologies.”

For a pet food manufacturing company, the trend to plant-based pet food offers an interesting opportunity. Dry pulses are much easier to handle than perishable meat products, and cost far less per tonne of raw material. Vasanthan believes that as the fraction recipe is refined and the manufacturing process is improved, pulse crops stand a good chance of growing their footprint in the multi-billion-dollar North American pet food market.

The manufacturer could use plant rather than animal protein, or blend with some combination of both, and reduce their overall cost of production.

Of course, the final word on the success of pulse-based kibble rests with the target audience: the pets themselves. The final phase of the product will include taste trials with dogs.

“There’s a lot we can do in the lab,” Vasanthan said, “but until you test the product on animals, the project is not complete.”

Application of Canadian Pulses in Traditional Chinese Dry Noodles, Biscuits and Steamed Buns

albertapulse on May 31, 2017

Market development opens doors for pulse flours in China

Three proof-of-concept projects enabled Chinese scientists and food companies to experiment with Canadian pea and lentil flours in popular Chinese food products.

China has long been considered a high-potential market for Canadian pulse crops, and the destination of many trade missions involving our producers, processors and other industry leaders.

In 2014, Pulse Canada took market development in a new direction. Working with the Beijing-based Chinese Cereals and Oilseed Association, the organization facilitated three one-year research projects conducted by Chinese researchers and food companies. This project was supported by the Canadian International Grains Institute and co-funded by Alberta Pulse Growers and Saskatchewan Pulse Growers.

“The idea is that, if we are going to interest Chinese companies in Canadian pulses, they need to be involved in the research early on in the development process,” said Tanya Der, Pulse Canada’s Manager of Food Innovation and Marketing.
Under these projects, three scientists from Academy State Administration of Grain and Henan University of Technology tested the addition of up to 50% Canadian-supplied pea and lentil flours in three widely popular food product categories: noodles, biscuits and steamed buns.

A value-added opportunity for Canada

“These are staple items that are eaten by people from all walks of life,” Der said. “Whether you live in the north or south, you’re eating some version of these. If we can get these high-volume products to use flour from Canadian pulses, that can have an impact.”

The three lead researchers each worked with a Chinese food company that specializes in one of the three product categories. Each team received a supply of pea and lentil flours, milled in Canada from Canadian-grown crops. This ensured that the quality, particle size and functionality of the pulse flours would be consistent.

Co-operation between the research community and food companies allowed them to study how Canadian pulse flours perform when blended with Chinese-milled wheat flours in various proportions, and when processed in a commercial manufacturing facility. The addition of pulse flours – which are high in protein and fibre — would also enable the companies to improve the nutritional profile of their products.

Der emphasized that market development in China must be viewed as a long-term effort. Pulse Canada’s approach was to work with Chinese partners to introduce them to Canadian pulse flours and build relationships that can grow over time and pay dividends in the future.

“This was really the initial stages of market development,” Der said, “a proof-of-concept looking at what percentage of pulse flour can be used in these products, and what is the impact on functionality and taste?”

Building on the relationships and technical knowledge developed with these three projects, the next stage of Pulse Canada’s Chinese market development is now taking shape.

“We’re close to finalizing some new projects on product innovation and consumer research for Canadian pulses in China,” Der said. “We’ll be announcing these in the summer of 2017.”

Development of sprouting process and characterization of aroma and flavour in Alberta grown high and low tannin faba beans

albertapulse on May 31, 2017

Study lays groundwork for sprouted pulse products

Sprouted faba beans could be a powerful source of protein for consumers, and a profitable new market for growers and processors.

Take a stroll through your local supermarket or health food store and check out the packaged grain products that are for sale. Everything, it seems, is sprouting.

Indeed, sprouted grains are having a moment, with growing popularity driven by consumer demand for healthy food products. As more consumers jump on the sprouted grains bandwagon, there’s no reason why cereal grains should get all the sales. Pulses want in.

Jay Han, Senior Food Scientist at Alberta Agriculture and Forestry’s (AF) Food Processing Development Centre in Leduc, has watched the sprouted grains trend with interest. Consumers may feel that sprouted grains somehow ‘sound healthy’. Han wants to look far deeper.

“Sprouting may change the amino acid profile of the grain and increase the digestibility and bioavailability of protein,” Han said. “Just think what happens to barley in the malting process. But sprouting hasn’t been studied very much in regard to pulses.”

In 2017, Han began a three-year study on how best to sprout faba beans and what happens to nutrition and taste when you do. This work is being supported by Alberta Pulse Growers.

How sprouting affects nutrition

Han chose low-tannin and high-tannin faba beans for this study because of their high protein content. Sprouting, of course, is another way of saying germination, which is achieved by steeping grains in water in a consistent and controlled fashion. When it comes to sprouting faba beans, Han’s in new scientific territory.

“There’s no written rule on how to sprout faba beans,” he said. “So the first area we’ll look at is optimization of sprouting. How many days does this take, and what effect does this have on the protein?”

With many years’ experience developing processes and food products around pulses, Han knows that taste will be one factor he’ll contend with. You can sprout faba beans beautifully but if consumers don’t like the taste, they’ll buy the sprouted barley instead. As the second phase of this project, his project team will evaluate the flavour and aroma of sprouted faba beans and create a chemical profile of the aroma. A trained sensory analysis and instrumental flavour analysis will also be conducted by, respectively, AF’s sensory evaluation scientist and a University of Alberta scientist.

The whole point of sprouting faba beans is to deliver protein to the consumer in a nutritionally effective way. In the third component of the project, Han will work with a team at the University of Manitoba that will assess protein quality and how protein digestibility is affected by sprouting.

“This project is timely in a couple of ways,” Han said. “First, sprouting is very trendy with consumers right now. Second, faba bean acreage has really exploded over the past few years. If we can find another use for faba beans, one that’s not so dependent on overseas markets, that’s good for farmers.”

Value Added Processing of Pulse Grains Using a Novel Technology Called Air Current Assisted Particle Separation Technology (ACAPS)

albertapulse on May 31, 2017

Processing technology could capture more value from faba beans

A technology that works well in cereals could help faba beans become a key ingredient in new food and feed products. U of A Professor Feral Temelli is investigating.

Today, buyers around the world are urgently seeking new sources of plant protein to help meet surging demand from health-conscious consumers. This demand is one reason Alberta farmers have been ramping up pulse crop production over the past several years.

To make the most of this opportunity, however, we’ll need to sell the world more than just raw pulses. By selling more Alberta pulses in processed form, the economic impact of rising pulse consumption can be far greater.

University of Alberta Professor Feral Temelli believes that Air-Current-Assisted Particle Separation Technology (ACAPS) could unlock significant value from pulse crops. ACAPS was developed at U of A for barley and oat processing. Temelli had previously established at lab scale that ACAPS could successfully fractionate dehulled pulse grain.

With funding support from Alberta Pulse Growers, Temelli and two graduate students are now investigating the use of ACAPS for value-added processing of faba beans. Started in 2016, this project will run until early 2019 and focus on three challenges.

Optimization and scale-up of fractionation. “We need to do the optimization at lab scale, to understand how it works and to test it,” explained Temelli. In this phase of the project, she and her team will treat dehulled and milled faba beans with ACAPS to separate-out the starch and protein components. Results will be analyzed to assess how well ACAPS handles value-added faba bean processing on a bigger scale.

Creating a foundation for food application development. In concept, value-added processing of faba beans should usher in new food uses that will be healthy for consumers and profitable for pulse growers as well. To date, many fundamental questions simply haven’t been studied. Temelli and her team will find answers to these questions. “The challenge is to understand the functional properties of different formulations, emulsions and foams,” she said. “If we don’t have proper data, we can’t target the best applications.”

New uses for faba bean hulls. “There are a lot of valuable components in the hull that haven’t received a lot of attention,” said Temelli. Her key target is hydrolysable tannins, which can deliver valuable health benefits. Working with high-tannin varieties, Temelli will determine how best to extract tannin from faba bean hulls. A host of possible food and animal feed applications could ultimately result.

Today, ACAPS is accepted as a technology for processing barley and oats, to extract high-value fractions for food applications. Feral Temelli and her team are laying the groundwork for using ACAPS for pulse crops. With consumers demanding new and healthier food products, the upside for pulse growers appears significant.

“There’s so much interest right now in the utilization of pulse protein and starch ingredients,” said Temelli. “Once we understand their functional properties, that will allow new applications to be developed.”