How to control protein structuring in food?

Animal and plant proteins are present in a wide variety of raw and processed foods. They play a key role in determining the final structure of food matrices. Mastering their interactions and the construction of their assemblies is therefore essential to control the structuring processes, imagine new technological routes or new food products.

Food proteins are differentiated by their biological origin and their molecular structure; in addition, they may be present in the native state within more or less complex supramolecular assemblies. This diversity led to segmented experimental studies that typically focused on one or two proteins, which helped to limit the emergence of a more general description of the processes of structuring dietary proteins.

This synthesis work offers a unified view of how soft-matter physics can be used to control the interactions and assembly of dietary proteins, and shows how physical models of polymer and colloid science can be used to describe and predict protein behavior.

For more details: http://www.inra.fr/Entreprises-Monde-agricole/Resultats-innovation-transfert/Toutes-les-actualites/Proetines-aliments