Moisture, Fat, and Protein Analysis for Meat and Dairy Alternatives

Introduction

The demand for vegan, vegetarian, and clean-label foods has undergone unprecedented growth in recent years. With ever increasing focus on sustainability and health, the meat and dairy alternative market in particular is expected to continue to grow for years to come. With new ingredients being regularly introduced, traditional meat and dairy tests are not always the best option for accuracy, particularly for fat and protein, which are typically unique to the food source. One test that affects all food products is moisture. If moisture levels are too high in ingredients or final products, the shelf life will be significantly diminished. Careful control of moisture, fat, and protein levels in meat and dairy alternatives ensures least-cost formulation while maintaining high-quality and good consistency.

The SMART 6^TM and ORACLE^TM can be paired together for rapid moisture and fat determination, with results in less than five minutes. Sprint^® is a direct protein measurement system which utilizes dye-binding technology. Direct protein detection ensures only true protein is detected, not total nitrogen, which can result in erroneous measurements when non-protein nitrogen is present. Sprint does not require regular calibrations, and methods are easy for any lab user to create. Competitive, rapid technologies (NIR, FT-IR, TD-NMR) require ongoing, expensive calibrations and method development for each unique sample, due to variations in color, texture, and consistency.

This study demonstrates that CEM’s innovative technology can rapidly analyze a wide range of meat and dairy alternatives for moisture, fat and protein, with accuracy and precision that matches reference methods.