Potomac Postscripts WASHINGTON N E W S BUREAU By ROBERT G. GIBBS, Associate Editor L a r g e s c a l e p r o d u c t i o n of ersatz m e a t a n d m i l k i n G e r m a n y s h o w s promise of remedying nutritional deficiencies throughout the world EW, low-cost vegetable protein foods N and a substitute milk to supplement the diet of peoples in many foreign countries whose food supply is inadequate have been developed in Germany through efforts of the Bipartite Control Office. Gwynn Garnett, assistant chief of BCO's Food. Agriculture, and Forestry Group stated recently that new vegetable protein foods can supplement the general worldwide deficiency of animal proteins by supplying essential human nutrients in a palatable form and at a low cost. He added that costs, based on current production of 1,200 tons per month of vegetable protein, are approximately 10 cents per pound, as compared with 60 cents per pound for meat. The ersatz-meat combination (50% of each) retails at 35 cents per pound. Present obstacles are resistance to innovation and lack of support of the German government and the food processing firms. Increased meat supplies have reduced the urgency of the program in Germany. Mr. Garnett believes that adoption of this program to add supplemental proteins to the diet in the form of new foods is potentially a great innovation in human feeding. He emphasized that the new foods are substitutes for animal products not so much in flavor but from the standpoint of nutrition. Even where these substitutes resemble the natural product in taste and appearance, the likelihood of synthesizing meat does not appear possible in the foreseeable future. Preparation of Milk Substitute The work of the BCO's Food, Agriculture, and Forestry Group was to develop three broad types of food: a milk substitute, a vegetable-protein meat extender, and complete vegetable protein foods. Maltavena, also called lactavena, is a spray dried mixture of soya, malted barley, sugar, and wheat, with 10% dried skim milk. After fortification with vitamins A, D, C, B complex, and calcium, and addition of water, it may be used as a low cost, high quality food substitute for whole milk. Feeding tests on very young children in the Ruhr area were conducted by the British Medical Research Council. Development of this product has taken a considerable length of time due to technical problems encountered. One such problem, that of the distasteful flavor created by heating, has
been overcome by improved processing techniques. Preparation of Vegetable Protein Foods Being unable to establish directly the human requirements for each of the various amino acids, vitamins, and minerals, the assumption was made that there is sufficient proof that beefsteak contains the proper balance of these food elements. The raw material supplies with which these could be matched in inexpensive foods are soy flour, peanut flour, cottonseed cake, torula yeast, dried blood, skim milk, whey, proteins from grain, and wood, textile, and fish by-products. Matching the composition of meat in so far as possible in order to obtain a palatable product became the main problem. The first attempt was to make a product which could be added to meat sausage in proportions up to 50% and which would have a nutritive value (proteins, minerals, and vitamins) approximately the same as meat. Soy flour, cheapest and most nearly equivalent to meat, was the basis. Soy flour suitable for human consumption is obtained as a by-product in the extraction of oil from soy beans by using a solvent equal to hexane. American technologists developed this process as well as the heat treatment methods used. Torula yeast, whale oil, and other products were added to round out the nutritive composition and to balance flavors as much as possible. One such product added is monosodium glutamate, used commercially to accentuate the desirable flavor of meat. The principal problem to be overcome was the lack of water solubility of soy flour. Its optimum solubility is not only low (4.7%), but varies greatly depending on the production method. By mixing the other ingredients dry, adding water, and heating almost to boiling, the mixture was very slightly hydrolyzed. This last process increased the water solubility of the entire mass. The mixture is drum dried and distributed in containers in a powder form. Before mixing with equal amounts of meat sausage, the powder is boiled for 20 minutes with two parts of water and then allowed to cool gradually for several hours. The product is a neutral color, gelatinous mass which is seasoned with spices such as pepper and nutmeg, mixed CHEMICAL
with the meat, and placed in sausage casings and smoked in the usual manner. The product has the same protein, fat, and caloric value as meat and has passed several extensive taste tests. The ultimate objective of developing a 100% vegetable protein food is still in the laboratory stage, with several technical details to be overcome. Although the same basic principle is used as with the meat-ersatz combinatiop, there are some important exceptions, especially the development of texture and flavor. Two methods of adding proper texture are available at present. One is a U. S. developed gluten product and the second, a German skim milk product. The latter is considered better, not only for its texture qualities, but also because it has a 47% protein content. Dried blood and fat are added for texture, color, flavor, or caloric composition. After addition of water, the mixture is heated and extruded under pressure. The fat acts as a lubricant for the extruder, thus giving a fiber or grain to the product. x\fter extruding, the threads are compressed tightly into loaf form, cellophane-wrapped, and marketed. Comparative Food Values of Meat and Ersatz Mr. Garnett stated that beefsteak contains approximately 17% protein, 19% fat, and 239 calories per 100 grams, while the vegetable protein product contains approximately 20% protein, 6% fat, 25% carbohydrates, and 234 calories per 100 grams. With regard to the 10 nutritionally essential amino acids, the vegetable protein product exceeds meat in its content of tryptophan, phenyl alanine, and thrionine, is approximately equal to beefsteak in its content of histidine and leucine, but is less in methionine, arginine, lysine, isoleucine, and valine. In its mineral content the vegetable protein product is richer than beefsteak in phosphorus and copper but poorer in iron. As to vitamins, the ersatz is approximately three times richer in thiamin, half again as rich in riboflavin, and approximately one fourth as rich in niacin as beefsteak. Mr. Garnett stated that since most of this work was based on the application of knowledge developed in the U. S. and the United Kingdom before and during the war, the contributions of present work are improvement in certain processing techniques and innovations in mass human feedings rather than new or basic knowledge of vegetable protein foods. AND
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