Dr. Julian McClements’ lab is at the cutting edge of plant-based meat research

Dr. Erin Rees Clayton oversees GFI’s grant program.

This program aims to fill gaps in the foundational science of alternative proteins with globally shareable research—following the model of clean energy, where industry breakthroughs have been largely enabled by publicly funded, open-access research. According to Rees Clayton, this basic science is a critically needed (and currently massively underfunded) category of research. 

Cracking the plant-based meat manufacturing question is the sort of quantum leap that could eliminate a technological obstacle and accelerate the entire field. As Rees Clayton said, “If we really want to feed the world and massively expand the scale of plant-based meat manufacturing, we need to think beyond extrusion.”  

Every week brings a new attempt at perfect biomimicry, with a slightly different combination of ingredients. “We use mixes of proteins and polysaccharides, and just by gently stirring them, they form these fibrous structures that we try to lock in place,” McClements explained. “We measure the texture,” said Zhang. “We measure the hardness, the cohesion, the springiness, the chewiness to figure out how to best mimic the real thing.”  

Simultaneously, the McClements lab has won funding from the USDA to tackle the challenge of plant-based fat tissue. Most plant fats are unsaturated and therefore liquid at room temperature. Animal fats are generally saturated and therefore solid at room temperature. To bridge the gap, plant-based meat manufacturers typically rely on semi-saturated coconut and palm oils, which are suboptimal from a sustainability and nutritional standpoint. 

The McClements’ lab is looking at using oil and water emulsions to create a plant-based facsimile of animal fat cells. 

McClements explained, “This is called high internal phase emulsions. Basically you just make a very concentrated oil and water emulsion. So all the droplets are packed very close together, and when they’re packed close together, it gives semi-solid characteristics.”