Content
New research from Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland) shows that common fruit and vegetable by‑products, materials typically discarded during processing, may serve as natural, clean‑label texture modifiers in plant‑based foods. The findings highlight a new opportunity for processing yield recovery while reducing food waste and helping manufacturers meet growing consumer demand for simple, familiar ingredient lists.
The study aimed to evaluate if powders made from various fruit or vegetable processing by-products such as pomace or imperfect fruit could replace microbial transglutaminase (mTGase). Microbial transglutaminase (mTGase) is an enzyme used commercially in the food industry to improve cohesiveness in foods such as meat analogs, dairy alternatives, imitation crab, and baked goods. Although mTGase is made by fermentation, whether it can be considered “clean label” is still debated and depends on how it is regulated and how consumers perceive it’s technical-sounding name. In addition, the enzyme can be a relatively high-cost input for manufacturers compared with more conventional binders and commodity texture systems, increasing interest in lower-cost, familiar-label alternatives.
Image Text
Researchers screened 12 fruit and vegetable by‑products for native transglutaminase activity, then tested how well the most promising materials retained activity after drying using commercially relevant methods. Apple pomace and onion peel powders showed the strongest combination of enzyme activity and processing stability.
Vineland leveraged their in-house trained sensory panel to assess how incorporation of these by-product powders could impact the taste and texture of the patties. When incorporated into plant‑based patties at 1.75% w/w, onion peel powder performed comparably to mTGase in both pea‑ and soy‑based formulations. In pea‑based patties, apple pomace powder also improved texture, but it was not effective in soy‑based formulations.
Image Text
“Food manufacturers are looking for clean‑label ingredients that still deliver on performance,” said Dr. Alexandra Grygorczyk, Research Scientist at Vineland and project lead. “Upcycled powders like apple pomace and onion peel offer a way to improve texture while keeping ingredient lists short and recognizable and possibly even cutting costs for plant-based manufacturers.”
Content
While the results are promising, the research team notes that further validation is needed across a wider range of food systems. Additional work may also explore the causes of the texture effects. While the research selected by-products with high levels of native TGase enzymes, other plant components, such as pectin, may also be contributing to the observed texture effects.
Content
Funding and Acknowledgments
This research was funded by Agriculture and Agri‑Food Canada through the CIFST Canadian Food Cluster (SCAP‑ASC‑14‑Act8) and by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agri‑Business through the Ontario Agri‑Food Research Initiative (OAF‑2023‑102523). Vineland is funded in part by the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), a federal–provincial–territorial initiative, and operates on property owned by Agricultural Research and Innovation Ontario (ARIO).