Introduction: Health and sustainability are current trends in the market of food products with fewer or no animal-derived ingredients. Three-dimensional technology is a highly promising tool for the development of novel and palatable food products. More research is needed to elucidate how these trends and technologies actually affect consumer health.

Aim: This work aims to study the composition and effect of cooking and the in vitro digestion of a vegan product (bacon) and a hybrid product (veal cutlet) developed using 3D technology.

Materials and methods: Vegan bacon and hybrid veal cutlet were obtained from Cocuus enterprise. Both products were cooked using a frying pan with a negligible amount of oil. Their general composition was analyzed in both the raw and cooked states, followed by in vitro digestion (INFOGEST method). Digestibility parameters and oxidation degree (TBARs) were assessed.

Results: Both analogues showed lower fat and energy values than their respective conventional products. The fatty acid profiles were healthier in the analogue products with a significantly lower amount of saturated fatty acids. Cooking resulted in a considerable loss of moisture (7-11%) in both products, giving rise to the concentrations of the rest of the components. The total digestibility was approximately 63% for both products. Protein digestibility was higher for hybrid products (78.32%), probably due to their animal origin, than for vegan products (65.88%). Lipid digestibility was 40.68% for bacon and 55.54% for hybrid products. Additionally, both products increased their oxidation degree during the digestion process.

Conclusions: Three-dimensional technology seems to be a suitable process to develop healthier and sustainable food products.

Funding:

This research was funded by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain), grant number PID2020–115348RB-I00- BIOGENSA2. I. Ariz is grateful to the “Asociación de Amigos de la Universidad de Navarra” for the grant received.