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Plant-based meat analogues offer possible alternatives to meat consumption. However, many challenges remain to produce a palatable meat analogue as well as to understand the roles of different processing steps and ingredients on both the texture and nutritional properties of the final product. The goal of this paper is to help with addressing these challenges by using a low-intensity ultrasonic transmission technique, both online and 24 h after production, to investigate high-moisture meat analogues made from a blend of soy and wheat proteins. To understand the ultrasonic data in the context of traditional characterization methods, physical properties (meat analogue thickness, density, peak cutting force) and protein nutritional quality attributes of the meat analogues were also characterized separately. The ultrasonic velocity was found to decrease with the feed moisture content and to be strongly correlated (r = 0.97) with peak cutting force. This strong correlation extends over a wide range of moisture contents from 58% to 70%, with the velocity decreasing from about 1730 m/s to 1660 m/s over this range. The protein quality was high for all moistures, with the highest amino acid score and in vitro protein digestibility being observed for the highest moisture content treatment. The accuracy of the ultrasonic measurements was enhanced by the development of an innovative non-contact method, suitable for materials exhibiting low ultrasonic attenuation, to measure the meat analogue thickness ultrasonically and in a sanitary fashion - an advance that is potentially useful for online monitoring of production problems (e.g., extruder barrel-fill and cooling-die temperature issues). This study demonstrates, for the first time, the feasibility of using ultrasonic transmission techniques to measure both velocity and sample thickness simultaneously and provide information in real time during production that is well correlated with some textural and nutritional attributes of meat analogues., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Despite being low in crude protein, on a fresh weight basis, given their overall contribution to the North American diet, potatoes contribute approximately 2%-4% of the population's protein intake. However, the quality of the protein remains ill-defined. To that end, Russet potatoes were secured and subjected to various cooking conditions (raw [control], boiled, baked, microwaved, and fried [3, 6, and 9 min]) to determine the impact of cooking method on protein quality, as determined by amino acid score (AAS) and indices of in vivo true fecal protein digestibility (TFPD%; rodent bioassay) and in vitro protein digestibility (pH-drop, pH-Stat, and simulated gastrointestinal digestion both static and dynamic). The AAS of raw Russet potatoes was 0.67 ± 0.01, with histidine being the limiting AA. Frying led to a significant reduction in the AAS, however, other cooking methods yielded similar results to the raw control. The TFPD% of raw potato was low (40.5% ± 3.9%) and was significantly enhanced to over 80% with all cooking methods. Similar patterns were observed with all in vitro measures, however, all methods yielded higher values for the raw control samples. Final protein digestibility-corrected AAS (PDCAAS; product of AAS and TFPD%) values ranged from 0.27 (raw) to a high of 0.57 (boiled), with cooked values being comparable to other plant-based protein sources, including grains, and some nuts and pulses. In vitro PDCAAS values followed similar trends. This study defined the protein quality of cooked Russet potatoes and provides data for use in defining the quality of total protein consumed in the North American diet., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they do not have any conflicts of interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Chickpea is a widely produced pulse crop, but requires processing prior to human consumption. Protein bioavailability and amino acid quantity of chickpea flour can be altered by multiple factors including processing method. For this reason, the protein quality of processed chickpea flour was determined using in vivo and in vitro analyses for processed chickpeas. Processing differentially affected the protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) of chickpeas with extruded chickpea (83.8) having a higher PDCAAS score than both cooked (75.2) and baked (80.03). Interestingly, the digestible indispensable amino acid score (DIAAS) value of baked chickpea (0.84) was higher compared to both extruded (0.82) and cooked (0.78). The protein efficiency ratio, another measure of protein quality, was significantly higher for extruded chickpea than baked chickpea ( p  < .01). I n vivo and in vitro analysis of protein quality were well correlated ( R 2  = .9339). These results demonstrated that under certain circumstances in vitro methods could replace the use of animals to determine protein quality., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest with regard to the described research, the publication of results, or financial issues. Funding for the study was provided via Agriculture and Agri‐Food Canada Growing Forward 2—Pulse Science Cluster program funded this project. M.G.N was also supported by funds received from the Global Institute for Food Security, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK. MGN and JDH designed and oversaw the experimental components of the study, and MGN prepared the first draft of the manuscript. GM, JN, AF, PA, AU, PF, and MGN conducted the technical aspects of the study. Chickpea varietal samples and data interpretation on varietal differences provided by BT., (© 2020 The Authors. Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

In this work, the protein quality of different bean types after undergoing the preparatory methods of baking, cooking and extrusion was assayed. Protein quality was assessed using a rodent bioassay to evaluate growth and protein digestibility while amino acid composition was determined via HPLC. In vivo protein digestibility was compared to an in vitro assessment method. The average protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) for processed beans was higher than the digestible indispensable amino acid score (DIAAS) (61% vs. 45%). Extrusion/cooking of Phaseolus varieties resulted in higher PDCAAS (66% on average) and DIAAS values (61% on average) than baked (52% and 48%) while baked faba beans had higher PDCAAS (66%) and DIAAS (61%) values. A significant correlation was found between PDCAAS and in vitro PDCAAS ( R ² = 0.7497). This demonstrates which bean processing method will generate the optimal protein quality, which has benefits for both industrial production and individual domestic preparation.

In order to determine the effect of extrusion, baking and cooking on the protein quality of red and green lentils, a rodent bioassay was conducted and compared to an in vitro method of protein quality determination. On average, the Protein Digestibility-Corrected Amino Acid Score of red lentils (55.0) was higher than that of green lentils (50.8). Extruded lentil flour had higher scores (63.01 red, 57.09 green) than either cooked (57.40 red, 52.92 green) or baked (53.84 red, 47.14 green) flours. The average Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score of red lentils (0.54) was higher than green lentils (0.49). The Protein Efficiency Ratio of the extruded lentil flours (1.30 red, 1.34 green) was higher than that of the baked flour (0.98 red, 1.09 green). A correlation was found between in vivo and in vitro methods of determining protein digestibility (R 2 =0.8934). This work could influence selection of processing method during product development., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In order to determine the effect of extrusion, baking, and cooking on the protein quality of yellow and green split peas, a rodent bioassay was conducted and compared to an in vitro method of protein quality determination. The Protein Digestibility-Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) of green split peas (71.4%) was higher than that of yellow split peas (67.8%), on average. Similarly, the average Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score (DIAAS) of green split peas (69%) was higher than that of yellow split peas (67%). Cooked green pea flour had lower PDCAAS and DIAAS values (69.19% and 67%) than either extruded (73.61%, 70%) or baked (75.22%, 70%). Conversely, cooked yellow split peas had the highest PDCCAS value (69.19%), while extruded yellow split peas had the highest DIAAS value (67%). Interestingly, a strong correlation was found between in vivo and in vitro analysis of protein quality (R 2 = 0.9745). This work highlights the differences between processing methods on pea protein quality and suggests that in vitro measurements of protein digestibility could be used as a surrogate for in vivo analysis.