Plant protein ingredients
- 27.05.2025
- English Articles
- Ute Schweiggert-Weisz
- Susanne Gola
- Andrea Bauer
- Christina Diekmann
- Sarah Egert
- Philipp Brandt
- Simon Früh
- Andreas Detzel
Peer reviewed / Manuscript (overview) submitted: 16 October 2024; revision accepted: 18 December 2024
Between techno-functionality, sensory properties, human nutrition and sustainability
Introduction
Ensuring a sustainable supply of high-quality food for the world‘s growing population requires a significant increase in food production. As competition for available arable land continues to intensify, new land-saving production concepts are needed. Given the high resources and land consumption associated with animal product production, alternative protein sources are increasingly being explored. Plant proteins could serve as one such alternative [1], provided they are at least comparable, if not superior, to animal proteins in terms of techno-functional and sensory properties, nutritional quality, and sustainability [2].
When discussing plant proteins and so-called alternative products made from them, it is first necessary to define what exactly is meant by the term ‘plant proteins’. In principle, plant proteins are proteins, derived from plant sources. However, the food industry does not use pure proteins, but protein ingredients, which differ significantly in their protein content and in the concentration of accompanying substances. Depending on their protein content, these ingredients are classified as flours (less than 50%), concentrates (50–80%), and isolates (over 80%). A precise definition exists only for soy protein ingredients [3]. ...
Abstract
Research on plant-based proteins is still in its early stages. The effects of manufacturing processes on their chemical composition (nutritive and potentially ´anti-nutritive’ components), on their techno-functional and on their sensory properties are not yet fully understood. Additionally, the influence of different processing levels on the nutritional quality remains unclear, as does the question of whether plant proteins are truly more sustainable than conventional animal proteins. Within the NewFoodSystems Innovation Space, three projects aim to shed light on these questions: ´Sustainable protein ingredients’, ´AlProPlant’ and ´Pr:Ins – Holistic assessment’. Findings of these projects are presented in this article.
