The impact of the industrialized meat system (specifically, within ruminant livestock, more specifically, beef cattle) is not only relevant to climate change mitigation and adaptation but it is vital to understanding how to develop new systems that support the resiliency of the future agriculture and meat production industries. With a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) forecasted 10% rise in global meat consumption expected by the end of the decade, whether the biosphere can support an increase in non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions while also providing sufficient animal proteins is driving the food product development sector to innovate. This thesis combines food product development and food systems thinking with mechanical engineering principles to create a novel food product that will address climate change through the lens of reducing overall beef consumption. Whey protein concentrate (WPC), a highly concentrated form of whey (a byproduct of the cheese making process), can be used to engineer artificial matrices for cross-linking with biopolymers, in the scope of this work, sodium alginate (SA). The ionic cross-linking of WPC and SA using calcium chloride encapsulates the water in a food-grade hydrogel. This hydrogel when blended with ground beef acts as a meat binder and thus decreases the volume of beef required to create a beef burger patty, without sacrificing the textural properties. By comparing mechanical compression data and sensory analysis data, this thesis determined the effect of WPC/SA hydrogels on the textural properties of blended beef patties with an aim to discover the viability of whey as a meat binder for the future of alternate meat product development.
Kevin Markey (Wed,) studied this question.