EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT HYDROCOLLOIDS AS BINDING AGENTS IN SOY- BASED ANALOG BURGERS

Hydrocolloids perform a great variety of functions in improving the texture and stability of food products. In analog meat products, such as analog burgers, hydrocolloids act as binders for vegetable proteins, water, and fat. Methylcellulose is the hydrocolloid most often used in commercial formulations. However, other hydrocolloids may have properties similar to or superior to methylcellulose. Evaluating their behavior when applied in formulations subjected to process conditions, such as freezing and heat treatment is essential to assess their applicability. Thus, the present work aimed to evaluate the effect of different hydrocolloids ─ methylcellulose (MC), carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), guar gum (GG), and xanthan gum (GX) ─ incorporated at 6% level on the formation, stability and physicochemical properties of soy-based analog burgers. Visual appearance, cooking loss, pH, water activity (Aw), textural properties, objective color, and lipid oxidation by TBARS index were evaluated. Regarding the visual evaluation after cooking, the analog burgers prepared with MC, GG, and GX presented a more homogeneous appearance and were less brittle than the other treatments. The cooking loss varied from 23.1 % in the burger prepared with CMC to 16.9 % in the treatment containing MC. he pH ranged from 6.06 to 6.24, in treatments GX and MC, respectively. The Aw varied from 0.9824 to 0.9863, considering the hydrocolloids evaluated, CMC resulted in the lowest Aw. Regarding color, only the yellow index (b*) was affected by the incorporation of hydrocolloids, with a variation of 21.0 to 24.6, however, the whiteness index, a parameter that correlates the color coordinates L*, a*, and b*, did not differ among treatments. The hardness varied slightly between treatments: from 4.02g to 4.90g in the treatments GX and HPMC, respectively. The springiness, cohesiveness, and resilience were higher for the analog burger prepared with CMC. The lipid oxidation measured by the TBARS index was higher (p<0,05) in the treatments elaborated with MC and HPMC. Based on these results, all hydrocolloids evaluated showed adequate binding properties in soy-based analog burgers, however, xanthan gum due to its similarity to methylcellulose regarding most physicochemical parameters evaluated and its lower lipid oxidation can be considered a suitable alternative to the use of methylcellulose as a binding agent in analog burgers.