Binders in foods: Definition, functionality, and characterization

Binding agents have emerged as an important and required class of ingredients to manufacture a wide range of new food products, especially semi-solid or solid vegan meat and dairy analogues. In this review, we give a definition for this class of ingredients, look at what constitutes required functionalities for binders, and highlight what molecular mechanisms are involved to give rise to these functionalities. Furthermore, an overview on food binders, such as animal-derived/plant-based proteins (myofibrillar proteins, egg white protein, gluten etc.) and carbohydrate-based (methylcellulose, carrageenans etc.) is given and their functions are explained. Three functions have been identified as critically important: stickiness, hardening and water binding. Analytical methods to determine these characteristics are presented and it is recommended to study those simultaneously in model systems, where methylcellulose or gluten might serve as benchmark.