The texture of meat is difficult to replicate using plant-based ingredients. A Berlin-based start-up has solved this problem using a technique from the textile industry.

To make the switch from meat products to plant-based alternatives easier, many products are designed to resemble the original as closely as possible. Often, however, this isn’t quite successful enough. The texture of meat, for example, is very difficult to replicate.

Researchers at Wageningen University & Research and the start-up Rival Foods, pioneers in this field, used shear cell technology, whereby mechanical shear forces cause the plant-based proteins to resemble meat-like muscle fibres. Mechanical engineer David Schmelzeisen, one of the founders of the Berlin-based start-up Project Eaden and a specialist in textile engineering, is now developing machines that spin fibres for the production of meat substitutes. ‘A piece of meat is nothing more than an organic fibre composite that you need to optimise in terms of texture and flavour,’ he tells the Frankfurter Allgemeine.

The first product, a vegetarian ham under the brand name LEKKA, has been on the shelves since April. The production process begins by mixing plant-based proteins from wheat and peas, spices, fat and flavourings to form a dough. This is extruded through the fine holes of a spinning machine to produce long, red fibres. Thickness, colour and flavour can be adjusted. The next step is to assemble the fibres into a ‘piece of meat’. Special machines spit out 20-kilogram slabs ‘that already look very much like the meat butchers work with’. The rest is a matter of seasoning, pasteurising, slicing and packaging. According to Project Eaden, the plant-based ham contains up to 75 per cent more protein than conventional ham, no cholesterol, nitrite or animal hormones, and less salt.

LEKKA’s meat products – now comprising ham, chicken and salami – are currently only available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.