Partial replacement of β-casein by napin, a rapeseed protein, as ingredient for processed foods: Thermoreversible aggregation

Abstract Environmental, demographic and economic motives draw a worldwide tendency to introduce plant proteins into processed foods. However the total replacement of animal proteins by plant proteins is not easy to perform due to the specific physicochemical properties (aggregation, solubility, interactions …) and taste of these proteins. In a first step, combined plant/animal assemblies could be an attractive approach. Consequently, to drive this trend towards practical applications, deeper investigations must be performed to control the properties of such mixed assemblies. In the current study, the interactions of β-casein with napin, a rapeseed protein poorly valorized in human nutrition, was investigated in various physico-chemical conditions (pH, sodium chloride concentration, mass ratio). The properties of the mix were followed by turbidimetry, and microscopy. The statistical analysis of the whole set of data indicated that the effects of the three factors were significant (p