From November 2019
Egg replacement challenges
Veganism is currently a hot topic, but egg is a key ingredient in many food products that stands in its (and product development leaders) way. So, in advance of her appearance at Fi Europe next month, our ingredients research team leader Tiia Morsky responded to some questions on what the industry can use as an alternative.
1. What projects are you mainly involved
with at Campden BRI?
I specialise in the properties and processes of plant
protein ingredients. One of the projects I manage
develops techniques to produce plant-based protein-rich
ingredients efficiently.
2. What challenges are producers
currently facing?
In short, it’s development of vegan products. The food
industry is seeking alternatives to egg ingredients, so in
response we’ve launched a new Egg Replacement Club
project to help them with this.
3. What are the main issues with trying
to find replacements?
Eggs are a unique multi-functional ingredient used for
aeration, emulsification, enriching, colour, shine, and
structure forming. It’s because of this versatility that
many manufacturers depend on this ingredient, making it
a real challenge to replace.
4. Could you give an egg substitute example?
Why is it a good alternative?
Pulses are known to have great functional properties
including foaming, emulsification and gelling due to their
chemical composition. Our recent research work found
pulses - such as peas, beans and lentils - displaying
significantly higher foam expansion and foam volume
stability compared to egg white proteins.
Tiia will be discussing plant-based clean label alternatives at Fi Europe’s conference in Paris. Find out more about Investigating plant based proteins (video).
Contact: Tiia Morsky
+44(0)1386 842089
tiia.morsky@campdenbri.co.uk