Table 1.
Main ingredients and techniques used in plant-based meat analogs production, their positive contribution, and current limitations.
| Target | Ingredients | Intended contributions | Challenges | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taste and aroma | Natural spices and herbs | Masks beany notes and prevent lipid oxidation | Beany flavor is still present | Fiorentini et al. (2020), Lee et al. (2020), Li and Li (2020), and Wi et al. (2020) |
| Maillard reaction precursors (e.g., reducing sugars amino acids) | Produce meaty or roasty volatiles | Flavoring agents may be destroyed during cooking | ||
| Hydrolyzed vegetable proteins | Impart a meat-like flavor | |||
| Vegetable oils | Replace animal fat roles in flavor formation | Adverse health effects | ||
| Appearance/color | Annatto, lycopene, turmin, cumin, canthaxanthin | Red meat color for fresh products | Red piments remain after cooking | Ajwalia (2020), Bohrer (2019), Fraser et al. (2018), He et al. (2020), Herbach et al. (2004), Kyriakopoulou et al. (2021), Malav et al. (2015), Rolan et al. (2008), and Schreuders et al. (2019) |
| Betanin, beetroot extracts, and soy leghemoglobin | Red to brown color changes during cooking | Difficulty estimating degree of doneness | ||
| Reducing sugars | Browning during cooking | A yellow color may be produced with excessive heating | ||
| Leghemoglobin | Has meat-like appearance similar to myoglobin | Adverse health and public concerns | ||
| Texture | Texturizing plant proteins, i.e., extrusion, spinning, shearing and 3D printing | A meat-like fibrous structure synthesis from plant proteins | A spongy structure is still reported | Lin et al. (2002), Rehrah et al. (2009), Garg and Singh (2010), Guerrero et al. (2012), Basediya et al. (2013), and Balestra et al. (2019) |
| Several parameters must be monitored during texturizing causing high variability | ||||
| Non-texturizing plant proteins, starch and fibers | Improves water binding and | Change in color due to the Maillard reaction, hydrolysis, caramelization, and degradation of pigments | ||
| Vegetable oil/butter | Improve mouth feel | Require high temperature, pressure, mechanical energy | ||
| Transglutaminase | Improves the binding and slice ability by inducing crosslinks between the proteins | High cost | ||
| Difficult upscaling |