Innovations in the meat colloid science: Exploring the future of meat from the perspectives of sustainability, health, and personalization.

Abstract

Meat is an important food source with rich nutrition. Its distinctive flavor attracts people to enjoy the pleasure of food. However, some problems about sustainability, health, and personalization (high energy consumption in farming, negative effects of high salt/fat in meat on health, and the personalized demand for meat texture and shape) arise with meat consumption. Although the above problems are put forward from different perspective, these problems can be solved in the model framework (the continuous and dispersed phase) of meat colloid in the future. In this review, three meat colloid models and their application in multidimensional printing are discussed. Through the structure of intact meat colloid model, the texture differences between cultured meat and real meat are first compared. Then, the material characteristics of the structure holding system (the continuous phase) of cultured meat are discussed. Based on the cured meat colloid model, the methods of stabilizing the dispersed phase are summarized to deal with the quality deterioration caused by reducing salt. Third, in emulsion colloid model, the relationship of fat and tribology is introduced, and the preparation of fat substitutes from controllable coalescencing of the dispersed phase is discussed. Finally, the application of three colloid models in 3/4/5D printing are summarized to realize the personalized texture and shape. In conclusion, three colloid models can simplify the complex meat system, which is convenient for subsequent theoretical research. Multidimensional printing technology can also realize the virtual idea to the realistic application of colloid models.