Recent Advances in the Processing and Manufacturing of Plant-Based Meat

Cold argon plasma-modified pea protein isolate: A strategy to enhance ink performance and digestibility in 3D-printed plant-based meat

Pea protein isolate (PPI) is rich in protein and low in allergenicity, but its poor functionality limits its application in 3D food printing. This study examined the effects of cold argon plasma (CP) pre-treatment of PPI combined with sodium carboxymethyl cellulose on the ink properties of 3D-printed plant-based meat and its digestive characteristics. The results showed that CP treatment significantly increased the apparent viscosity and storage modulus of the PPI-polysaccharide mixture through hydrogen bonding and other molecular interactions, improving the self-supporting ability and printing accuracy of the plant-based meat. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and microstructural analysis revealed that CP treatment altered the secondary structure of PPI, improved its compatibility with polysaccharides, reduced surface roughness and pore size, and resulted in a more compact and regular network structure. Additionally, CP treatment shortened the bound water relaxation time, indicating stronger interactions that promoted gel formation. During gastrointestinal digestion, CP-modified plant-based meat exhibited improved digestibility, with a significant rise in the number and relative abundance of bioactive peptides, thereby enhancing bioavailability. These findings provided a theoretical foundation for the application of CP treatment in plant-based products enriched with PPI and other plant proteins, offering new insights into the development of highly functional plant-protein foods.

Counterfeiting in Protein Supplement: Spectroscopic and Chromatographic Analysis

Proteins contain amino acids, which are extremely important for healthy growth, muscle mass production, and improved quality of life. As a result, consumers' intake of insufficient amounts of protein, leads to a deterioration in body resistance, becoming vulnerable to diseases, muscle mass loss, and experiencing many adverse health conditions. It is more commonly used by athletes, particularly to enhance and speed up weight gain, and it is crucial for kids, the elderly, and patients who need to replace absent nutrients in their diet. As more people use protein powder supplements, sales are becoming more competitive, and numerous unauthorized producers have begun providing products that meet the need. Many protein supplements on the market are adulterated or contain undisclosed, inexpensive chemicals, causing discrepancies between labeled and actual amounts of active compounds, which is a growing issue. These include substances like rice, soybeans, urea, cheaper amino acids (e.g. L-glutamine and L-taurine), bulking agents like maltodextrin and cyanuric acid and, in some cases, even dilution with milk powder or melamine. It may be able to better regulate athletes' and patients' exposure to illegal substances and adulteration, safeguard the health of consumers by developing quick and precise ways to test protein supplements. This comprehensive review presents a variety of analytical approaches utilizing spectroscopic and chromatographic methods for the identification of additives for quality control and content verification purposes.

Exploring Camellia oleifera Abel seed cake as sustainable source of protein for food applications: A review

The demand for sustainable plant-based protein is rising due to concerns over the environmental impact of animal-based protein. One promising yet overlooked protein source is the seed cake generated from Camellia oleifera oil extraction (COSC), which contains 14-20 % crude protein. COSC protein (COSCP) exhibit excellent nutritional and functional properties making it a promising ingredient for innovative food products. However, its adoption remains limited. This review discusses COSCP extraction methods, functional properties, and food applications to promote its broader utilization. It also examined how oil extraction methods influence COSCP functional characteristics and explores modification techniques to enhance its functionality. COSCP has excellent functional properties, making it suitable for use as emulsifier, foaming, and gelling agents in food systems. However, cross-linking of COSCP with saponins and phenolics during seed processing compromise the protein yield, purity, and functionality and need to be addressed to fully unlock the potential of COSCP in food applications.

Forging Prawn and Salmon Flavours with Non-Animal-Based Ingredients

The development of plant-based seafood alternatives with authentic flavour profiles remains a significant challenge, limiting their appeal to seafood consumers. This study hypothesised that incorporation of flavour precursors including free amino acids, betaine, and long chain omega-3 fatty acids would enhance the flavour resemblance of plant-based prawn and salmon prototypes to their authentic seafood counterparts. Prototypes were analysed using headspace solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and evaluated by a semi-trained sensory panel. Volatile analysis revealed 64 compounds across prototypes, with significant variations attributed to precursor combinations and thermal treatments. Frying enhanced volatile profiles, particularly in plant-based prawn prototypes fortified with all three flavour precursors, producing key prawn odourants, including pyrazines and trimethylamine. Notably, betaine pyrolysis under moderate cooking conditions was demonstrated as a potential pathway for trimethylamine formation, contributing to fish-like odours. Sensory evaluation showed that the final plant-based prawn prototype exhibited strong cooked crustacean and grilled notes, aligning with the observed volatile profile. While the salmon prototype displayed key salmon odourants, its cooked salmon odour was less pronounced, suggesting a need for a more robust flavouring strategy. This study highlights the potential of targeted flavour precursor formulations to improve the flavour quality of plant-based seafood alternatives, paving the way for their wider acceptance.

Beyond Imitation: How Food Colloids Are Shaping the Next Generation of Biomimetic Foods

In the new global landscape of population, environmental, and energy sustainability, the manufacture of future food products that meet human nutritional and health needs is a major challenge. Biomimetic food, as a new type of food, has made significant progress in the use of plant proteins and other ingredients to mimic animal food, and it has also achieved important results in sensory and nutritional properties. In the study of biomimetic foods, food colloids play an irreplaceable role as the key framework for building food structures. In this paper, we first review the recent research progress on food colloids in the fields of biomimetic plant-based food, biomimetic animal-based food and 3D printed biomimetic food. Then, the mechanism of action, application effects, and quality improvement strategies of food colloids are deeply analyzed. Finally, the future research directions and application prospects are envisioned. This paper aims to give theoretical support and practical guidance for the development of biomimetic food through the above elaboration, to deal with the current problems in food development by means of the unique properties of food colloids, and to open up new ideas for the application of food colloids in future food innovation, and then to promote the further development of the field of biomimetic food.

Enhancing Meat Analog Texture Using Wet-Spun Fibroin Protein Fibers: A Novel Approach to Mimic Whole-Muscle Meat

The increasing demand for protein-rich, plant-based foods has driven the development of meat analogs that closely mimic the texture and mouthfeel of animal meat. While plant-based fibrils and electrospun silk fibroin fibers have been explored for texture enhancement and scaffolding in both meat analogs and cell-based meats, the use of wet-spun fibroin protein fibers as a food ingredient remains underexplored. This study investigates the potential of wet-spun recombinant fibroin fibers to enhance the textural properties of meat analogs. Short fibers, with varying tensile strengths and diameters, were incorporated into a commercial ground pork analog to create improved patty samples. The results showed that adding hydrophilic, 30 μm-diameter, 3-mm short protein fibers at 1% (w/w) significantly increased the springiness of the pork analog by 45%. Additionally, fiber sheets designed to mimic the endomysium structure of intramuscular connective tissue were integrated into the minced pork analog using a three-dimensional needle punching technique. This approach successfully recreated the interlacing endomysium structure found in whole-muscle pork, yielding a texture that closely matched the slice shear force, springiness, and cohesiveness of traditional pork. In conclusion, the incorporation of wet-spun protein fibers offers a promising strategy to enhance the textural qualities of meat analogs, making them more comparable to animal meat and potentially more appealing to consumers seeking high-quality plant-based alternatives.

Seaweeds-derived proteins and peptides: preparation, virtual screening, health-promoting effects, and industry applications

Seaweed, a promising source of nutritional proteins, including protein hydrolysates, bioactive peptides, phycobiliproteins, and lectins with multi-biological activities. Seaweeds-derived proteins and peptides have attracted increasing interest for their potential applications in dietary supplements, functional foods, and pharmaceuticals industries. This work aims to comprehensively review the preparation methods and virtual screening strategies for seaweed-derived functional peptides. Additionally, it elucidates their diverse biological activities, mechanisms of action, and industrial applications. Enzymatic hydrolysis appears as the most effective method for preparing functional peptides from seaweeds. Computational virtual screening has also proven to be a valuable strategy for assessing the nature of the peptides. Seaweeds-derived proteins and peptides offer numerous health benefits, including alleviation of oxidative stress, anti-diabetic, anti-hypertensive, anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity, anti-cancer, and anti-microbial activities. Studies indicate that proteins hydrolysates and peptides derived from seaweeds with low molecular weight and aromatic and/or hydrophobic amino acids are particularly significant in contributing to these diverse bio-activities. Furthermore, seaweeds-derived proteins and peptides hold great promise for industrial applications owing to the broad spectrum of bio-functional effects. They can be used as active ingredients in food products or pharmaceuticals for disease prevention and treatment, and as food preservatives, potentially with fewer side effects.

Additive manufacturing technology in the development of easy to swallow and digest foods for the elderly

The ageing of the population is a major challenge for the world. The elderly face a number of functional deteriorations in the body during the ageing process. Among these, swallowing and digestion are the two biggest challenges that elderly individuals face. The individualized, customized, and digitized approach to food processing offered using additive manufacturing technology also referred to as 3D printing technology-makes it particularly well-suited to the production of foods that are easy to swallow and digest for the elderly. The application of 3D food printing technology for producing foods that are easy to swallow and digest for the elderly is examined in this article. Meanwhile, it is discussed using some texture-improving techniques for making foods that are easier for the elderly to swallow. Additionally, the challenges and solutions associated with 3D food printing in the manufacturing of foods for the elderly are explored. Overall, this review offers some insights from material classification for the use of 3D food printing technology in the production of foods that are easy to swallow and digestible food for the elderly.

Tenderness in meat and meat alternatives: Structural and processing fundamentals

The demand for meat alternatives based on ingredients sourced from nonanimal materials with equivalent quality of muscle tissue is increasing. As more consumers switch to meat alternatives, a growing body of research has investigated the tenderness and related texture attributes in plant-based meats to increase consumer acceptance. A deeper understanding of tenderness including the differences and similarities between meat and meat alternatives is crucial to developing products that meet consumer expectations, as it directly influences consumer acceptance. Meat tenderness is commonly quantified using sensory evaluation and instrumental tests and is influenced by various factors such as the intrinsic features of the animal before the slaughter, naturally occurring proteolysis during the post-slaughter process, and several tenderization techniques. In contrast, meat alternative tenderness can be actively tailored through the selection of ingredients and the operating conditions of the structuring process. Especially, extrusion parameters such as moisture content and barrel temperature can greatly modulate tenderness-related attributes. Postprocessing methods that have traditionally been utilized for tenderizing have also been applied to meat alternatives, but more studies are needed to fully reveal the underlying mechanisms. This review offers an overview and critical discussion on tenderness, covering the structural origins, influencing factors, analytical methods, oral processing, and tenderization processes for both meat and meat alternatives. The discussion is based on the existing knowledge of muscle tissue, which evolves to critically reviewing how this understanding can be applied to the textural attributes of meat alternatives and what kind of novel tenderization techniques can be developed for these new sustainable food products.

Exploring Sustainable Future Protein Sources

With the exponential growth of the world population and the decline in agricultural production due to global warming, it is predicted that there will be an inevitable shortage of food and meat resources in the future. The global meat consumption, which reached 328 million tons in 2021, is expected to increase by about 70% by 2050, and the existing livestock industry, which utilizes limited resources, is having difficulty meeting the demand. Accordingly, cultured meat produced by culturing cells in the laboratory, edible insects consumed after cooking or processing, and plant-based meat processed by extracting proteins from plants have been proposed as sustainable food alternatives. These future protein sources are gaining popularity among consumers who prefer a healthy diet due to their nutritional benefits, and they are receiving attention for their potential to reduce environmental impact. This review describes the types and characteristics of protein sources such as cultured meat, antiserum media, edible insects, soy protein, wheat protein, and other mushroom mycelia, processing processes and technologies, market status, institutional challenges and prospects, and mushroom cultured meat.

Perforated imprinting on high moisture meat analogue confers long range mechanical anisotropy resembling meat cuts

Meat cuts, when cooked and masticated, separate into fibrous structures because of the long-range mechanical anisotropy (LMA) exhibited by muscle fascicles, which is not fully recapitulated in alternative proteins produced using molecular alignment technology like high moisture extrusion. We have developed a scalable perforated micro-imprinting technology to greatly enhance LMA in high moisture meat analogue (HMMA). By imprinting 1 mm thick HMMA sheets with perforated patterns (optimized by AI), we observed up to 5 × more anisotropic separation of fibrous structures in a one-dimensional pulling LMA analysis, to match the fibrousness of the cooked chicken breast, duck breast, pork loin and beef loin. We stacked and bound imprinted sheets with transglutaminase (TG) to produce imprinted whole-cuts. Controlling fiber separation in the imprinted cuts achieved hardness ranging from 6578 g to 18467 g (2 cm × 2 cm × 1 cm, 50% strain), which matched meats from different species. Imprinted cuts improved meat-like fiber separation over HMMA when masticated, measured by Euclidean distances (0.057 and 0.106 respectively) to animal meat cuts on image features. In sensory evaluation, imprinted cuts improved consumer acceptance by 33.3% and meat-like fibrousness by 20%, by significantly enhancing the HMMA appearance, texture, and mouthfeel.

Plant-based Meat Analogs: Perspectives on Their Meatiness, Nutritional Profile, Environmental Sustainability, Acceptance and Challenges

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Plant-based meat analogs (PBMAs) have been the subject of interest over the past few years due to consumers' demand for environmentally friendly, healthful, and non-animal-based foods. A better comprehension of the composition, structure, texture, nutrition, and sustainability of these PBMAs is necessary.

RECENT FINDINGS

This review articulates the protein sources and composition of PBMAs and their "meatiness" with respect to texture, structure, and flavor enhancement. The components used in the analogs, such as unsaturated fats, fibers, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, and plant-based oils enriching their nutritional profile, are described. The study identifies the environmental and sustainability impact of PBMAs, as crucial to the survival and maintenance of biodiversity. More studies are warranted to scope and underscore the significance of the analogs and comprehend the texture or structure-function relationships. Further product development and testing thereof may ultimately result in quality meat analogs that respect meat taste, health and acceptance of consumers, environmental sustainability, animal welfare, and current challenges.

Atmospheric cold plasma pretreatment for effective enhancement of covalent crosslinking between coconut globulin and tannic acid: Improving interfacial activity and emulsifying properties

Atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) represents a promising approach for enhancing covalent interactions between proteins and polyphenols, circumventing the drawbacks associated with traditional methods. This study aims to investigate the enhancement of covalent interactions between coconut globulin (CG) and tannic acid (TA) facilitated by ACP at varying pH levels. At acidic pH, ACP treatment was found to promote free radical-induced covalent cross-linking between CG and TA, whereas at pH 7.0 and 9.0, ACP treatment enhanced quinone-induced covalent cross-linking. In contrast, the covalent crosslinking induced by quinone significantly disrupted the protein structure, leading to greater exposure of hydrophobic groups. At pH 9.0, the CG-TA complex treated with ACP exhibited the highest interfacial activity, with an interfacial adsorption mass of 5292 ng/cm2. This was accompanied by improvements in droplet size, viscosity, and stability of the CG-TA-stabilized emulsion. These findings offer novel insights into the covalent modification of proteins and polyphenols, thereby broadening the potential applications of food protein.

Alternative proteins; A path to sustainable diets and environment

With a growing global population and the resulting pressure on natural resources, the supply of high-value protein has become increasingly limited. The rise of environmental and ethical concerns has led to the emergence of meat analogues as a credible alternative to traditional animal-derived meat. Growing demand for plant-based protein sources has gained attention as viable alternatives to conventional animal proteins. This article reviews commercially available plant proteins for meat replacement and evaluates recent research on producing meat analogues, highlighting their advantages and limitations. Beyond production, an examination of the physicochemical, textural, and structural attributes of the meat alternatives is conducted, highlighting the improvements made in achieving sensory and nutritional parallels with animal-derived meat. Furthermore, this article explores the current commercial applications of meat alternatives, highlighting the challenges faced in their widespread adoption and suggesting future research directions. The comparison of the environmental impacts of plant proteins and animal proteins is also presented. The ultimate goal is to develop meat substitutes that closely mimic the sensory, nutritional, and aesthetic qualities of real meat. Despite promising innovations in processing technologies, challenges remain that researchers are actively addressing to close the gap between plant-based meat analogues and animal-derived counterparts.

Plant-Based Meat Analogues and Consumer Interest in 3D-Printed Products: A Mini-Review

The markets for plant-based meat analogues (PBMAs) are growing worldwide, showing the increasing consumer demand for and acceptance of these new products. Three-dimensional (3D) food printing is a new technology with huge potential for printing products customised to suit consumers' wants and needs. There is a broad acceptance from consumers regarding the safety and desirability of consuming food products that are produced using 3D printing. As this is a new technology, consumers must be provided with relevant information from a trusted source, with further research needing to be conducted within the context of the identified market and culture. By embracing the strength of customisation of 3D printing and coupling this with the global demand for plant-based products, 3D printed PBMAs could be a future challenger to the currently popular production method of extrusion. Therefore, this article reviews consumer interests in PBMAs and summarises opportunities for using 3D printing technology to produce plant-based meat analogues.

Across-environment seed protein stability and genetic architecture of seed components in soybean

The recent surge in the plant-based protein market has resulted in high demands for soybean genotypes with improved grain yield, seed protein and oil content, and essential amino acids (EAAs). Given the quantitative nature of these traits, complex interactions among seed components, as well as between seed components and environmental factors and management practices, add complexity to the development of desired genotypes. In this study, the across-environment seed protein stability of 449 genetically diverse plant introductions was assessed, revealing that genotypes may display varying sensitivities to such environmental stimuli. The EAAs valine, phenylalanine, and threonine showed the highest variable importance toward the variation in stability, while both seed protein and oil contents were among the explanatory variables with the lowest importance. In addition, 56 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were significantly associated with various seed components. Despite the strong phenotypic Pearson's correlation observed among most seed components, many independent genomic regions associated with one or few seed components were identified. These findings provide insights for improving the seed concentration of specific EAAs and reducing the negative correlation between seed protein and oil contents.

A comprehensive review on novel synthetic foods: Potential risk factors, detection strategies, and processing technologies

Nowadays, the food industry is facing challenges due to the simultaneous rise in global warming, population, and food consumption. As the integration of synthetic biology and food science, novel synthetic foods have obtained high attention to address these issues. However, these novel foods may cause potential risks related to human health. Four types of novel synthetic foods, including plant-based foods, cultured meat, fermented foods, and microalgae-based foods, were reviewed in the study. The original food sources, consumer acceptance, advantages and disadvantages of these foods were discussed. Furthermore, potential risk factors, such as nutritional, biological, and chemical risk factors, associated with these foods were described and analyzed. Additionally, the current detection methods (e.g., enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, biosensors, chromatography, polymerase chain reaction, isothermal amplification, and microfluidic technology) and processing technologies (e.g., microwave treatment, ohmic heating, steam explosion, high hydrostatic pressure, ultrasound, cold plasma, and supercritical carbon dioxide) were reviewed and discussed critically. Nonetheless, it is crucial to continue innovating and developing new detection and processing technologies to effectively evaluate these novel synthetic foods and ensure their safety. Finally, approaches to enhance the quality of these foods were briefly presented. It will provide insights into the development and management of novel synthetic foods for food industry.

Novel animal product substitutes: A new category of plant-based alternatives to meat, seafood, egg, and dairy products

Many consumers are adopting plant-centric diets to address the adverse effects of livestock production on the environment, health, and animal welfare. Processed plant-based foods, including animal product analogs (such as meat, seafood, egg, or dairy analogs) and traditional animal product substitutes (such as tofu, seitan, or tempeh), may not be desirable to a broad spectrum of consumers. This article introduces a new category of plant-based foods specifically designed to overcome the limitations of current animal product analogs and substitutes: novel animal product substitutes (NAPS). NAPS are designed to contain high levels of nutrients to be encouraged (such as proteins, omega-3 fatty acids, dietary fibers, vitamins, and minerals) and low levels of nutrients to be discouraged (such as salt, sugar, and saturated fat). Moreover, they may be designed to have a wide range of appearances, textures, mouthfeels, and flavors. For instance, they could be red, orange, green, yellow, blue, or beige; they could be spheres, ovals, cubes, or pyramids; they could be hard/soft or brittle/pliable; and they could be lemon, thyme, curry, or chili flavored. Consequently, there is great flexibility in creating NAPS that could be eaten in situations where animal products are normally consumed, for example, with pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, soups, or salads. This article reviews the science behind the formulation of NAPS, highlights factors impacting their appearance, texture, flavor, and nutritional profile, and discusses methods that can be used to formulate, produce, and characterize them. Finally, it stresses the need for further studies on this new category of foods, especially on their sensory and consumer aspects.

From bytes to bites: Advancing the food industry with three-dimensional food printing

The rapid advancement of three-dimensional (3D) printing (i.e., a type of additive manufacturing) technology has brought about significant advances in various industries, including the food industry. Among its many potential benefits, 3D food printing offers a promising solution to deliver products meeting the unique nutritional needs of diverse populations while also promoting sustainability within the food system. However, this is an emerging field, and there are several aspects to consider when planning for use of 3D food printing for large-scale food production. This comprehensive review explores the importance of food safety when using 3D printing to produce food products, including pathogens of concern, machine hygiene, and cleanability, as well as the role of macronutrients and storage conditions in microbial risks. Furthermore, postprocessing factors such as packaging, transportation, and dispensing of 3D-printed foods are discussed. Finally, this review delves into barriers of implementation of 3D food printers and presents both the limitations and opportunities of 3D food printing technology.

Evaluating the Potential Safety Risk of Plant-Based Meat Analogues by Analyzing Microbial Community Composition

Plant-based meat analogues offer an environmentally and scientifically sustainable option as a substitute for animal-derived meat. They contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater consumption, and the potential risks associated with zoonotic diseases linked to livestock production. However, specific processing methods such as extrusion or cooking, using various raw materials, can influence the survival and growth of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms, resulting in differences between plant-based meat analogues and animal meat. In this study, the microbial communities in five different types of plant-based meat analogues were investigated using high-throughput sequencing. The findings revealed a diverse range of bacteria, including Cyanobacteria, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota, Actinobacteriota, and Chloroflexi, as well as fungi such as Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Phragmoplastophyta, Vertebrata, and Mucoromycota. Additionally, this study analyzed microbial diversity at the genus level and employed phenotype prediction to evaluate the relative abundance of various bacterium types, including Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, aerobic, anaerobic, and facultative anaerobic bacteria, as well as potential pathogenic bacteria. The insights gained from this study provide valuable information regarding the microbial communities and phenotypes of different plant-based meat analogues, which could help identify effective storage strategies to extend the shelf-life of these products.

An Overview of Ingredients Used for Plant-Based Meat Analogue Production and Their Influence on Structural and Textural Properties of the Final Product

Plant-based meat analogues are food products made from vegetarian or vegan ingredients that are intended to mimic taste, texture and appearance of meat. They are becoming increasingly popular as people look for more sustainable and healthy protein sources. Furthermore, plant-based foods are marketed as foods with a low carbon footprint and represent a contribution of the consumers and the food industry to a cleaner and a climate-change-free Earth. Production processes of plant-based meat analogues often include technologies such as 3D printing, extrusion or shear cell where the ingredients have to be carefully picked because of their influence on structural and textural properties of the final product, and, in consequence, consumer perception and acceptance of the plant-based product. This review paper gives an extensive overview of meat analogue components, which affect the texture and the structure of the final product, discusses the complex interaction of those ingredients and reflects on numerous studies that have been performed in that area, but also emphasizes the need for future research and optimization of the mixture used in plant-based meat analogue production, as well as for optimization of the production process.

Plant-Based Meat Proteins: Processing, Nutrition Composition, and Future Prospects

The growing need for plant-based meat alternatives promotes the rapid progress of the food industry. Processing methods employed in plant-based meat production are critical to preserving and enhancing their nutritional content and health benefits, directly impacting consumer acceptance. Unlike animal-based food processing, the efficiency of protein extraction and processing methods plays a crucial role in preserving and enriching the nutritional content and properties. To better understand the factors and mechanisms affecting nutrient composition during plant-based meat processing and identify key processing steps and control points, this work describes methods for extracting proteins from plants and processing techniques for plant-based products. We investigate the role of nutrients and changes in the nutrients during plant protein product processing. This article discusses current challenges and prospects.

Plant-based proteins: advanced extraction technologies, interactions, physicochemical and functional properties, food and related applications, and health benefits

Even though plant proteins are more plentiful and affordable than animal proteins in comparison, direct usage of plant-based proteins (PBPs) is still limited because PBPs are fed to animals as feed to produce animal-based proteins. Thus, this work has comprehensively reviewed the effects of various factors such as pH, temperature, pressure, and ionic strength on PBP properties, as well as describes the protein interactions, and extraction methods to know the optimal conditions for preparing PBP-based products with high functional properties and health benefits. According to the cited studies in the current work, the environmental factors, particularly pH and ionic strength significantly affected on physicochemical and functional properties of PBPs, especially solubility was 76.0% to 83.9% at pH = 2, while at pH = 5.0 reduced from 5.3% to 9.6%, emulsifying ability was the lowest at pH = 5.8 and the highest at pH 8.0, and foaming capacity was lowest at pH 5.0 and the highest at pH = 7.0. Electrostatic interactions are the main way for protein interactions, which can be used to create protein/polysaccharide complexes for food industrial purposes. The extraction yield of proteins can be reached up to 86-95% with high functional properties using sustainable and efficient routes, including enzymatic, ultrasound-, microwave-, pulsed electric field-, and high-pressure-assisted extraction. Nondairy alternative products, especially yogurt, 3D food printing and meat analogs, synthesis of nanoparticles, and bioplastics and packaging films are the best available PBPs-based products. Moreover, PBPs particularly those that contain pigments and their products showed good bioactivities, especially antioxidants, antidiabetic, and antimicrobial.

Study on the Function of Conveying, Kneading Block and Reversing Elements on the Mixing Efficiency and Dispersion Effect inside the Barrel of an Extruder with Numerical Simulation

In order to better understand the extrusion process mechanism of plant protein inside a barrel, the parameter changes and flow characteristics of fluids under conveying, kneading block and reversing elements were investigated with numerical simulation. The results showed that the shear rate increased obviously with the increase in pitch; the shear rate value of the reversing element was larger, while that of the kneading block was the opposite. The screw combinations of conveying, kneading blocks and reversing elements all have a certain degree of mixing effect on the particles, and the reduction in pitch can effectively increase the mixing effect of the particles. The conveying element can provide a relatively constant acceleration for the particles, due to the pumping capability and pressure buildup as the pitch increases. The kneading block and the reversing element can increase the leakage flow between the discs and backflow, resulting in an extension of the residence time distribution that facilitates fluid interaction in the barrel and improves the dispersion of the particles. The restraint by the reversing element on the particles is obviously weaker than that of the kneading block and shows a higher particle mixing degree. Overall, the influence of different elements on the flow condition, mixing degree and residence time is significantly different, which improves the process controllability and provides references for potential applications to meet multiple demands.

Novel plant-based meat alternatives: Implications and opportunities for consumer nutrition and health

Against the backdrop of the global protein transition needed to remain within planetary boundaries, there is an influx of plant-based meat alternatives that seek to approximate the texture, flavor and/or nutrient profiles of conventional animal meat. These novel plant-based meat alternatives, enabled by advances in food technology, can be fundamentally different from the whole-plant foods from which they are derived. One of the reasons is the necessity to use food additives on various occasions, since consumers' acceptance of plant-based meat products primarily depends on the organoleptic properties. Consequently, a high degree of heterogeneity in formulation and nutritional profiles exists both within and between product categories of plant-based meat alternatives with unknown effects on several aspects of human health. This is further complicated by the differences in digestibility and bioavailability between proteins from animal and plant sources, which have a profound impact on colonic fermentation, nutritional adequacy and potential health effects. On the other hand, emerging strategies provide opportunities to develop affordable, delicious and nutritious plant-based meat alternatives that align with consumer interests.

Effects of Food Factors and Processing on Protein Digestibility and Gut Microbiota

Protein is an essential macronutrient. The nutritional needs of dietary proteins are met by digestion and absorption in the small intestine. Indigestible proteins are further metabolized in the gut and produce metabolites via protein fermentation. Thus, protein indigestibility exerts a wide range of effects on gut microbiota composition and function. This review aims to discuss protein digestibility, the effects of food factors, such as protein sources, intake level, and amino acid composition, and making meat analogues. Besides, it provides an inventory of antinutritional factors and processing techniques that influence protein digestibility and, consequently, the diversity and composition of intestinal microbiota. Future studies are warranted to understand the implication of plant-based analogues on protein digestibility and gut microbiota and to elucidate the mechanisms concerning protein digestibility to host gut microbiota using various omics techniques.