amixon® mixing technology for the production of meat substitutes and other vegan foods
Vegan meat alternatives are booming. The driving forces behind this trend are ethical convictions, health awareness and the desire for sustainable nutrition. Highly precise processing technology is required to turn powdery raw materials into tasty and marketable meat substitutes.
amixon® mixers meet the highest hygiene standards, ensure consistent product quality and support developers in implementing innovative recipes. Whether flavouring, vacuum drying, fermenting, hydrating or homogenising: amixon® mixers make your processes economical, scalable and future-proof.
Mixing challenges in the manufacture of vegan meat alternatives
Most meat substitutes are produced by wetting and then extruding a dry protein mixture that often consists of over 30 different components: spices, flavor enhancers, Anticaking, preservatives, binding agents, vitamins and minerals, thickening agents, texturizers, emulsifiers, lipids, aromas, leavening agents, coloring agents, and stabilizers, to name a few.
Each of these ingredients plays a distinct role in helping the plant-based meat product achieve the right taste, texture, and appearance. If any ingredients are not adequately homogenized into the mixture, the resulting products could display significant quality issues.
Because the assorted ingredients used in plant-based food production have highly variable physical properties, achieving homogeneity is challenging. Too much shear during mixing can shatter delicate particle structures that are needed for the product to adequately coagulate and attain a fibrous, meaty texture.
Process development
amixon® mixing plants meet food safety requirements. They carry out thermal processes at high pressures and in a vacuum. It does not matter whether the products are dry, moist or wet. amixon® process plants can operate both continuously and in batches.
- Gentle yet effective mixing
amixon® industrial mixers produce technically ideal mix qualities without destroying sensitive particles. All this with no dead space and less than 20 revolutions. - Flexibility for agile development of new products
Refine your plant-based recipes with precisely adjustable parameters and a wide range of processing functions. From drying and coating to deagglomeration and dispersion: amixon® mixers always achieve perfect mixing results, even at filling levels as low as 10%. - Innovative hygienic design
amixon® mixing systems simplify cleaning thanks to minimal material residues, 99.9997% residual-free discharge and automated mechanisms for wet cleaning. - amixon® can accelerate process development when new products are being developed. Naturally, this is always done in strict accordance with confidentiality requirements. We have more than 40 years of experience.
Food-grade mixers for vegan food products
Ring layer mixing/agglomeration
With a ring layer mixer or ring layer mixing agglomerator from amixon®, powdery substances can be efficiently mixed, deagglomerated, wetted and agglomerated. These machines operate according to the principle of pipe flow. They can only be operated continuously. The residence time of the mixed goods is very short. Various process steps can be combined along the mixing path. This allows the physical properties of the powders to be specifically improved. In the case of agglomeration, liquid binding agents are added. The resulting agglomerates are usually almost the same size. Their strength can be controlled by the rotation frequency. Stable agglomerates fix the mixing quality and improve the flow properties. To reduce the remaining moisture in the product, a fluidised bed or belt dryer is often used downstream.
Maintain the particle structure during mixing
The more natural a raw material is, the more sensitive it is to mechanical stress. Its structure, colour and taste can change as a result of intense shear forces. This is particularly true of sensitive goods such as tobacco, herbs, tea, instant beverages, spice mixtures, dried vegetables, nuts and dried fruit.
With amixon® mixers, the mixing process can be precisely tailored to the respective product. One and the same mixer can work intensively and deagglomerating as well as gently and structure-preserving. The following rule applies in many areas:
Rotational frequency multiplied by mixing time = ideal mixing quality
If the rotational frequency of the helix mixing tool is increased, the mixing time is reduced accordingly. For a powder batch of 3 m³, the mixing time is approximately between 50 seconds and four minutes, depending on the product requirements.
The twin-shaft mixer, the KoneSlid® and the cone mixer are particularly flexible. All amixon® mixers are suitable for operation with different filling levels and meet the highest requirements for hygiene and cleanability.
Learn more in our latest White Paper
In this white paper you'll learn about:
- Consumer behaviors influencing the market for plant-based foods
- Challenges of sourcing ingredients and scaling plant-based food production
- Changing regulations for vegan claims
- The role of mixers in plant-based production lines