On April 4-7, 2022 at Bangkok International Trade Exhibition Centre (BITEC), Bang Na, Bangkok, the National Metal and Materials Technology Center (MTEC) participated in Thailand Industrial Fair & Food Pack Asia. This event is an exhibition of technology for processing machinery in food, beverage, packaging, and logistics businesses from leading brands both in Thailand and other countries. It also acts as a trading platform for business people, entrepreneurs and traders in food industries, beverage, packaging, and other related businesses to meet and discuss business collaboration. MTEC had also presented its research on food development, especially development of plant-based protein by food structure design. Noted examples were as follows: (1) Ve-chick, a chicken-like product made from vegetable proteins, produced by novel chopping technology and structure design, (2) Chicken analogue products having chicken-like fibers produced by extrusion technology, (3) V-bang, gluten-free and dairy-free bread products, (4) M-Pro Jelly Drink, a high protein jelly drink with calcium, and (5) Textured meat products for easy chewing and swallowing.
In this event, there was a lecture on the topic of Future Food Trends and Plant-based food by Dr. Chaiwut Gamonpilas, Principle Researcher of Food Materials Research Team, Advanced Polymer Technology Research Group of MTEC.
- V-bang: Gluten-free and dairy-free bread products had been developed with food structure design technology by replacing the use of gluten-protein wheat with tapioca flour, which is gluten-free, and replacing the use of milk and milk products by replacing them with plant-based emulsions.
- M-Pro Jelly Drink: High protein jelly drink with calcium. The development of high-protein gel drinks with calcium from green beans by using an appropriate process to create required protein structures and sizes, as well as using hydrocolloids to help stabilize its structures and control its distribution. When sterilized at the pasteurization level, the process has yielded M-Pro Jelly Drink’s texture comparable to those of other commercial protein-free gel beverage products.
- Textured meat products for easy chewing and swallowing had been developed by applying a special process to control the structure and texture by inducing the equilibrium in the gap and the three-dimensional structure of pork protein, along with the use of food gelatin modifiers to help with product water retention.
