Physicochemical aspects of texturization: Fiber formation from globular proteins

Abstract

Abstract The modification of proteins to produce fibrous or “fiber‐like” textured products is a subject of unique importance and interest. Unfortunately, very little is known about the physicochemical properties of texturized “fibers”, the mechanisms that produce them, or the forces that hold the protein molecules in a given structure. This paper deals with the following topics: (a) methods for characterizing the physico‐chemical properties of textured protein products; (b) the structures of naturally occurring fibrous proteins and synthetic polypeptides as possible models for texturized “fibers”; (c) the current understanding of the mechanisms and the forces required to form and stabilize fibrous protein structures; and (d) a brief and generalized survey of the presently available “fiber” forming processes.