Planteneers: Elevating plant-based textures without methylcellulose
10 Jul 2025 | Planteneers
Ahead of Planteneers’ IFT First session in Chicago next week, R&D Manager Kyle Borkovec speaks to us about its new yeast and pea protein-based texturizing system, amid growing consumer concerns over methylcellulose being overly processed. While it mimics methylcellulose’s water retention and heat stability, Borkovec notes the company’s innovation is not intended as a direct replacement but offers a clean-label alternative.
Hi, this is Inha Noreen, journalist at Food Ingredients First.
Plantains will be presenting a featured session next week at IFT First in Chicago which will highlight its new methyl cellulose pretexturizing system for plant-based foods.
Kyle Borkovic, the company's R&D manager for North America, is joining us today to discuss more about the need for a methyl cellulose substitute.
My first question is, why do you think replacing methyl cellulose is a focus for plantaineers right now, and why is it the right time to bring this solution to IFT?
Sure.
Yeah, I think I should clarify that we are not aiming to replace methylcellulose outright.
As food scientists, we understand methyl cellulose is a safe and functional food ingredient.
So, the goal is to not remove methylcellulose from the supply chain, rather offer solutions for our customers, so they can enable them to develop solutions without methyce if that's what they so desire.
At Plantaineers, we're always focused on consumer intelligence data.
And deciphering purchasing habits so our product managers stay tuned to industry reports and media to guide our development strategies.
With the growing buzz that we've seen around ultra-processed foods and consumer expectations, around removing synthetic ingredients and developing cleaner labels, we feel that the stage is set to unveil this exciting new technology next week.
OK, great to know that.
And can you tell us a bit more about plantain use, limethyl cellulose alternative, and also how you solve the issues like water retention and heat stability?
Of course.
Yeah, so when we talk about methy cell replacements, I think it's very important to.
Explain that we are not outright replacing methyl cellulose one for one.
This system is a compound protein blend, and it's called filled meat P 271401.
It's based on a very unique yeast protein, and in the lab, we discovered some synergies with that yeast protein, with some pea protein and some citrus fibers and potato starch, and a compounded blend used at the appropriate ratio and usage under the right processing conditions, yielded results very similar to a product that would include methylcellulose on the label.
So, when we look at this solution, it's not just replacing methyl cellulose, it's a full compound blend.
That would bring protein, starch into the into the product development, formulation.
So, a little bit more about the product itself and water retention.
It has water retention very similar to that of methyl cellulose, not quite 1 to 1.
Methylcellulose is very special in the amount of water that can binded, but the system as a whole, holds a similar water capacity retention as does methyl cellulose, and the yield is quite similar as.
And once heated, you, you asked about the heat stability.
What we've also found really exciting about this product.
Is that instead of thermal reversible gel, as methyl cellulose will create, we found that we've actually developed a the irreversible gel.
So, after the heating process, we're creating a gel that is stable even as it cools.
So we have a nice firm bite in the hot and cold as products cool.
So, instead of product cooling off with methyl salose and relaxing, and becoming soft, we still have a nice firm bite even as the product cools down.
So that, that's really exciting, when we see some of those issues with methyl cellulose and formulation and if the product is not served hot and fresh, the texture really starts to deteriorate quickly as temperature falls.
But again, just to reiterate my opening statement, I would definitely like to clarify that we are just building out our portfolio.
So we can answer product developer needs.
We're answering that call to all food ingredient challenges and enable our customers to make delicious products.
No matter how they choose to do that, we can offer a solution that fits the specific needs.
OK, thank you for explaining that so.
And what functionality would you say was the most difficult when you were trying to replicate the functionality of methyl cellulose and how did you solve it?
Probably my favorite question.
Honestly, it, it was everything.
Methacce is such a functional ingredient.
It, it binds water really.
It does great gel formation.
It's got outstanding emulsification properties and thickening effects.
So it really brings a lot to the table when we formulate.
So, looking at all these different elements, each one was difficult in and of itself.
You know, we screened a lot of different ingredients.
We've seen a lot of companies with methyl cell replacements that we've screened, to varying degrees of success.
But what we found is that most could do one attribute.
One would gel nicely, but it didn't bind as much water.
One might have emulsification properties, but it didn't have the gel strength that we're looking for.
So, with that said, hate, hate to give that broad of an answer, but all of it was challenging.
But to answer the question about how it was solved, filled Meat P 271401 is the result of countless product managers, food scientists, and application specialists working in collaboration to overcome a very difficult challenge for product developers everywhere.
Anybody who's tried to replace methac cell in a formulation, knows firsthand how difficult that can be.
So, product product management through their research and data mining and trend observations, they kind of set this strategy for our team to go out and start researching solutions that could replace methyl cellulose.
So, once that strategy was set, our research scientist team set out to identify potential ingredients with similar functionality to methyl cellulose.
And, and what's really special about our organization.
Is that our R&D program is split in two.
We've got a research team and we've got an applications team.
So the research team set out to identify all these different potential ingredients, and once all those various potential candidates were identified, those ingredients are then sourced and handed off to our applications team, who then build out into full recipes because that anybody in product development will know that.
An ingredient operating by itself in a, in a vacuum per se, it does one thing, but then once you bring it into a full recipe and it's interacting and having synergies with other ingredients, the result can change.
So once our applications experts got their hands on things, they started whittling through, and we landed on this very specific yeast protein.
It's highly functional, has good water binding capacity.
And what was most exciting about it is the, the gel formation that we, that we found from that, and being irreversible or irreversible once it's heated.
So this is where a lot of the potential candidates were ruled out, as the other ingredients interacted with other components.
And then the end product, we created a new stabilizing compound that is the full protein blend, with the protein, with the potato starch and the citrus fiber combination as.
So, yeah, I hope that was a good explanation there.
Yeah, certainly.
Thank you so much.
And what types of plant-based products can this system be used in?
So far with this system, being based on yeast protein, we found that it's had the best use in ground-informed or restructured applications, for, for being served hot, right?
So we're looking at anything that really falls into that savory category, meatballs, sausage patties, burger patties, things of that nature, that kind of have that umami flavor, and a little bit of a tan color.
So from that yeast protein, we're getting a little bit of color.
That's one thing that we could not perfectly replace from methyl cellulose was that it's odor-free and color-free.
But we've got a very nice subtle complementary umami note coming from this yeast protein that pairs very nicely in these savory applications.
And we're currently working on other product extensions, of that line, looking into some chicken nugget applications, things of that nature.
So we're hoping to have those ready by the end of the summer as.
OK, great.
And, in future, what do you think is next for texture and clean label in plant-based foods?
Great question again.
We've already found the solution for ground informed products, so we recognize that the next step is to start looking at the emulsified product categories.
So looking at hot dogs, deli meats, and things of that nature.
And we're actually making some pretty good progress on a clean label version of those, applications and types of products.
We actually already do have a clean label, salami offering that's got some nice marbling and, color differentiation between the white and red matrix.
However, that system does require gluten.
So we're also now working on a gluten-free application.
So we aim to have, hopefully soon, maybe by the end of summer or come next year, allergen-free and clean label offerings for those emulsified products.
OK, great.
Thank you for sharing your insights with us, Kyle.
Have a nice day.
