The Science of Alt Protein: The mechanical signature of plant-based meat

Eating less meat is associated with a healthier body and planet. Yet, we remain reluctant to switch to a plant-based diet, largely due to the sensory experience of plant-based meat. Food scientists characterize meat using a double compression test, which only probes one-dimensional behavior. In this talk, Dr. Kuhl will share her experience of using tension, compression, and shear tests—combined with constitutive neural networks—to automatically discover the behavior of eight plant-based and animal meats across the entire three-dimensional spectrum. Dr. Kuhl and her team published a study that showed plant-based sausage and hotdog, with stiffnesses of 96kPa and 39kPa, successfully mimic their animal counterparts, with 64kPa and 44kPa, while Tofurky is twice as stiff, and tofu is twice as soft. Strikingly, their complementary food tasting survey produced in nearly identical stiffness rankings for all eight products. They anticipate their models to be a first step towards using generative artificial intelligence to scientifically reverse-engineer formulas for plant-based meats with customer-friendly tunable properties.