High-output apparatus for producing dense, uniformly layered meat

Abstract

A commercially feasible, high-output extrusion apparatus and method is provided for producing vegetable protein based meat analogue products characterized by discrete, untwisted, manually separable meat-like layers and at relatively high production rates. The method involves passing hot, moist, pretreated vegetable protein material through an extruder barrel and causing formation of a first choke of the material intermediate the ends of the barrel, subdivision of the material downstream of the first choke point in the presence of steam for thorough cooking and moisturizing of the material, rechoking of the subdivided material adjacent the extrusion end of the barrel, and extrusion of the material as a dense, layered meat analogue product. The apparatus preferably includes a plurality of especially configured, axially aligned screw elements within the extruder barrel, including an intermediate cut-flight screw for forming the first choke, and an axial extrusion or die spacer at the extrusion end of the barrel for facilitating layering of the end product. The overall production apparatus advantageously includes a pair of extruders for sequentially denaturing the vegetable protein based material and rendering the same hot and flowable, whereupon the hot material can be extruded as a layered meat analogue product from the second extruder.