AOCS Plant Protein Science and Technology Forum ((https://plantprotein.aocs.org/) organized a series of virtual events during October 2020 to provide solution insight for the global protein challenge. Research Professor Nesli Sözer’s keynote presentation “Oats as an Alternative Protein Source” was part of the Plant Protein Science and Technology Forum's first session, "Processing and Utilization Technologies." The presentation's learning objectives were: opportunities and challenges of using oats as a protein source; fractionation and further modification technologies to improve oat protein functionality and oat protein-based meat and dairy alternative food examples.

1. Oats as an
Alternative
Protein Source
Nesli Sözer, Res. Prof
AOCS Plant Protein Science and
Technology Forum, Processing and
Utilizing Technologies virtual session,
06.10.2020
8.10.2020 VTT – beyond the obvious

2. 10 M€
research
investment
20
Patent
families
VTT Oat research
30
years
research
track
 Oats constitutes 30% of the
total Finnish grain production.
 Finland is in the top 10 oat
producers in the world
 Finland is the 2nd biggest
exporting country of oats in the
world
VTT is one of the World´s leading oat innovators

3. VTT Oat capabilities
End-product
applications:
Baking, meat analogues,
dairy alternatives…
Processing
technologies:
Physical, chemical,
bioprocessing…
Pilot facilities:
Milling, fractionation,
baking, malting,
extrusion…
Analytical platform:
Chemical, physical,
structural, sensory &
consumer insight,
in vitros…
08/10/2020 VTT – beyond the obvious 3
Consumer
acceptance:
Consumer science,
sensory evaluation, test
restaurant…
Sustainability
evaluation:
Techno-economical
Techno-
economicalevaluation,
LCA…

4. Three decades of OAT research at VTT
Modification of
proteins and
carbohydrates
08/10/2020 VTT – beyond the obvious 4
1990´s
Whole grain
oats in baking
Molecular
breeding of oats
Process-induced
changes in oat
grain structure
Germination and
malting of oats
2000´s 2010´s
Present
Flavour
formation in oat
processing
Post-prandial
responses (e.g.
satiety)
to oat foods
Beta glucan
applications and
molecular size
control
Biological oat
crop protection
Oat based dairy
alternatives
Oat protein -
functional
properties and
applications
Funding from EU, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Business Finland, Academy of Finland, companies
Oat quality
indicators,
processability
for foods
Consumer
attitudes and
expectations
VTT Oat publications
Fractionation
technology

5. Sensory, techno-functional and nutritional
properties of food ingredients are prerequisite
for making delicious foods
VTT – beyond the obvious 5
Techno-functional properties
• Solubility, foaming, emulsifying, gelling,
stability, texturizing, particulation, water and
fat binding
Manski et al., 2008, Food
Hydrocolloids, 22, 587-
600
Now
dominated by
animal origin
ingredients
08/10/2020
Sensory quality
• Mouthfeel, flavour and odour, stability,
visual appearance
Nutritional quality
• Amino acid profile, protein digestibility, anti-
nutrients

6. Nutritional quality of oat proteins
More nutritious compared to all other cereal
proteins. High amounts of essential amino acids
lysine and tryptophane.
When compared with a.a. requirements for
children (2-5 yrs), they exceed the
requirements for all essential a.a. except lysine
and threonine.
Digestibility of oat proteins is 90%,
comparable to rice and corn
Oats can be tolerated by most of the celiac
disease patients

7. % of total
protein*
pI Solubility
globulins 70-80
mostly
5.5
soluble in dilute
salt solutions
-polypeptide
5.9 –
7.2
-polypeptide
8.7 –
9.2
albumins
(mostly enzymes )
9-20 4 - 7 water soluble
prolamins (avenin) 4-14 5 – 9
soluble in
aqueous ethanol
glutelins (residue) <10 -
soluble in dilute
acids or alkalis
*shows wide differences depending on the cultivar and growth conditions (climate, soil quality etc.)
Oat protein fractions
Similar to soy
glycinin and other
legumin-like (11S)
storage proteins

8. How do we
fractionate
oats?
08/10/2020 VTT – beyond the obvious 8

9. 08/10/2020 VTT – beyond the obvious 9
Pin disc & Air classifierAir flow millSC-CO2-extraction unit
Oat know-how
Pre-processing
• Supercritical CO2
extraction
Disintegration
• Milling
Fractionation
• Air classification
Starch Protein
Beta-
glucan
Oat fractionation technology for protein
and β-glucan concentration
Patent: WO2008/096044
Dry fractionation of oats

10. Benefits of VTT´s oat fractionation technology
 Defatting step :
• Enhances the dry fractionation of oats
– up to 35–40 % β-glucan and 40-50 % oat protein can be obtained
• Increases storage stability of the obtained fractions
 Dry process :
• No drying costs
• No unwanted hydrolysis of β-Glucan in the process
• Microbiological safety of the process
 No harsh chemical treatments
• Oat components obtained in natural, un-denaturated form
 Several high-value ingredients obtained
• oil, protein, beta-glucan, starch from the same process
Patent: WO2008/096044
Dry fractionation of oats

11. VTT’s dry fractionated oat protein was in native form and more
soluble than the commercial oat protein
 Commercially available oat protein concentrate vs. high protein oat fraction
from SC-CO2 extracted oats
 Protein concentration range between 20 – 60%. Rest is mainly starch or
maltodextrin.
pH 6.5, 1 M NaCl
Integral -18,77 mJ
normalized -2,10 Jg^-1
Peak 63,81 °C
Integral -5,70 mJ
normalized -0,64 Jg^-1
Peak 89,70 °C
Integral -62,76 mJ
normalized -7,02 Jg^-1
Peak 110,91 °C
Integral -0,98 mJ
normalized -0,11 Jg^-1
Peak 92,55 °C
VTT OPC 75% kost., 21.08.2014 11:54:39
VTT OPC 75% kost., 8,9350 mg
BIOVELOP 75% kost., 21.08.2014 12:13:30
BIOVELOP 75% kost., 9,0570 mg
mW
2
min
°C40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
^exo OPC_BIOVELOP 75 kost220914 22.09.2014 09:52:31
STARe SW 9.30Lab:M ETTLER
Commercial
SC-CO2 extracted
Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) thermogram
Protein denaturation
111C
Starch gelatinisation
64C
Commercial
OPC
VTT OPC

12. Oat protein is alkaline soluble
pH 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Oat protein isolate (OPI) was obtained from SC-CO2 extracted oat protein
concentrate by alkaline extraction + isoelectric precipitation.

13. Functionalization
08/10/2020 VTT – beyond the obvious 13
When?
• Ingredient
manufacturing
• Food
manufacturing
How?
• Enzymatic
• Fermentation
• Thermo-
mechanical
Why?
To improve
• technological quality
• sensory quality
• nutritional quality

14.  TG treatment rendered oat
protein particles with improved
stability against extensive
dissociation/re-association upon
dilution at neutral pH, and
increased the net negative
charge.
 Colloidal stability during cold
storage (1 month at 4 °C) of oat
protein isolates was improved
with transglutaminase treatment.
Adsorption of oat proteins to a/w interface in relation
to their colloidal state

15. 08/10/2020 VTT – beyond the obvious 15
Stable emulsion
after high-
temperature α-
amylase treatment
Oat protein concentrate (55% protein, 30% starch) with
improved emulsion properties after high temperature α-
amylase treatment

16. 08/10/2020 VTT – beyond the obvious 16
 Oat protein isolate dispersion was mixed with
different concentrations of pectin
 Solubility of proteins at isoelectric point was
greatly increased.
 Protein particles were negatively charged.
Dispersion stability can be
improved by addition of pectin
at acidic pH
Without
pectin
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pectin
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17. New technologies and
methods:
• to predict the behaviour of
oat raw materials in the
processes
• for successful selection of
oats for various processes
• for efficient breeding of
high quality oats
• for quality indicators to
facilitate product
innovations for export
12/12/2019 VTT – beyond the obvious 17
200
oat
samples
30
oat
samples
Processing approach
(with detailed physico-chemical
and quality analysis)
Genomic approach
(with proximate compositional
analysis)
xx
international
samples
Comparison of foreign oat
grains and flakes with Finnish
oats
Novel indicators and technologies for oat quality
and applicability (OatHow)
Project facts
Duration: 01/2019 - 06/2021
Partners: 4 FIN RTDs (VTT coord.); 12 IND partners from FIN
Total budget 2.0 M€ (of which 60% i.e. 1.2M€ from Business Finland)

18. Factors affecting oat milk properties
Enzyme inactivation
Homogenisation
Ultra-Turrax
Starch hydrolysis
Solid-liquid separation
Centrifugation
Heat-treatment
Oil, Calcium
phosphate
Water
10% dry matter
Whole grain oat flour
pH-adjustment to 7.2
Homogenisation
Ultra-Turrax
Salt
Cooling
Oat-based milk
alternative
Solids
08/10/2020 VTT – beyond the obvious 18
Properties of oat-based milks (n=10)
• Dry matter yield from flour to milk: 60-
74%
• Protein yield: 35-61%
• Protein: 0.7-1.1%
Positive correlations found between e.g.
• Starch content of flour and mass yield of
milk
• Amount of damaged starch in flour and
mass yield and amount of free reducing
sugars in milk
• Ash content of flour and protein content
of milk
1 week 2 weeks
Most stable
Least stable
Clear differences in stabilities
between milks prepared from
different oats

19. Wet extruded meat analogues made
with oat protein concentrate OPC
08/10/2020 VTT – beyond the obvious 19

20. Oat products are
increasing in number
and use
From traditional to novel
food products
Photo by Kevin McCutcheon on Unsplash

21. 22
www.fazer.com
https://oddlygood.net/https://goldandgreenfoods.com/
https://www.froneri.com/

22. 08/10/2020 VTT – beyond the obvious 23
S1: standard diet
S2: 100% OPC foods addition (pasta,
bread,yoghurt)
S3: OPC foods addition and reduced beef
and pork
S4: OPC foods addition and reduced animal
based foods
S5: 15% OPC foods addition
S6: 15% OPC foods addition and reduced
beef
Mogensen et al. (2020)
GHG emission 8%
Land use 14%
GHG emission 13%
Land use 26%
Use of new plant-based protein ingredients in diets has a
considerable potential to mitigate climate change and reduce
land use.

23. VTT Oat Experts
 Nesli Sözer (Res. Prof.) – Cereal technologies, extrusion processing
 Emilia Nordlund (PhD) – Cereal technologies, enzymatic modification
 Ulla Holopainen-Mantila (PhD) – Oat germination, microscopy, characterisation
 Tuija Sarlin (PhD) – Microbiology of oat germination, oat crop protection
 Natalia Rosa-Sibakov (PhD) – Cereal technologies & in vitro methods
 Outi Mattila (PhD) – Bakery processes, enzymatic processing
 Riikka Juvonen (PhD) – Fermentation technologies
 Martina Lille (MSc) – Rheology of oat based dairy alternatives
 Markus Nikinmaa (MSc) – Dairy alternatives, extrusion and baking techs
 Pia Silventoinen (MSc) – Milling, dry fractionation, characterization
 Anni Nisov (MSc) – Meat analogues, enzymatic protein modification
 Kaisu Honkapää (MSc) – Piloting and wet extrusion
 Saara Vanhatalo (PhD) – Oats & nutrition
 Heikki Aisala (PhD) – Flavour formation in oat processing
 Kyösti Pennanen (PhD) – Consumer insight of oats
24

24. Partnering for success
8.10.2020 VTT – beyond the obvious 25
Contact us to
start
innovating
Rethink the
processes
with us
Tailor-made
solutions
for you
Nesli Sözer
Research Professor
nesli.sozer@vtt.fi
+358401523875

25. Let’s venture
beyond the
obvious
www.vttresearch.com
#vttpeople / @VTTFinland