While methylcellulose is used in many different products, its chemical name and the laboratory processes needed to create it make it stand out on a food ingredient list.###While someone eating highly processed foods with several more chemical ingredients might not notice methylcellulose, it’s likely to catch the eye of someone who is looking for plant-based substitutes. Many of these consumers want items that they think are healthier or have clean labels — often defined as having ingredients that are easily recognized by the average consumer. Methylcellulose is widely used because plant-based don’t often have good water retention capabilities, so it improves texture and binding. ###Methylcellulose has also been targeted by activists as something unnatural in plant-que beneficios tiene el magnesium citratebased meat. Beyond Meat’s use of methylcellulose is even called out in a pending lawsuit filed by competitor and former co-packer Don Lee Farms.###Meala’s solution, the company says, not only can replace methylcellulose in plant-based meat products but it also improves the texture of plant-based alternatives to make them moreddit ferrous gluconatere like actual meat. In a written statement, Meala co-founder and chief technical officer Liran Gruda said the ingredient has a more fat-like quality in meat analogs, making them juicier and more succulent. It also has no aftertaste, he said.###Meala is not the only company looking for a more natural methylcellulose replacement. Two other tech-enabled ingredient companies are also working on the same issue. As a part of its partnership with CP Kelco, Shiru — which uses tech including bioinformatics, artificial intelligence and machine learning to figure out individual protein functions and how to find replacements in the plant kingdom — is pursuing a replacement. Additionally, replacing chemical food additives including methylcellulose is one of the aims of Sigma’s partnership with the Live Green Group — which uses400mg magnesium citrate reddit its algorithm with information about how plant ingredients have been traditionally used around the world to re-engineer food.###Meala, which is part of the Israel Innovation Authority’s incubator program and is backed by Strauss Group’s The Kitchen FoodTech Hub, said in its release it has passed proof-of-concept trials with several memagnesium glycinate restless legsat alternative makers and in foodservice. It will concentrate on the meat analog space before moving to develop a methylcellulose replacer for plant-based egg and dairy.###While Meala is one of several companies working on a methylcellulose replacemmagnesium citrate rite aident, there is likely a market for several different solutions. The controversy surrounding the ingredient, its wide use in food and the growth in products in the plant-based space make it a ripe area for more development.