Non-meat ingredients in meat products: A scoping review

Meat has long been known for its nutritional composition in terms of proteins. Proteins have been known to play important role in the body regarding growth, improving immune functions, making essential hormones and enzymes as well as tissue repair. This could explain why meat is being consumed by most people in all walks of life worldwide. The aim of this study was to review the literature on non-meat extenders and their functions in meat products. Data were collected from qualifying studies of databases (such as Web of Science, Google scholar, science direct, and other web platforms) and were collated, studied, and summarized. Examples of non-meat ingredients included soy protein, starch protein, milk protein, and extenders. The contributions of the non-meat ingredients were to enhance flavor and color among other functional and textural properties of the meat product. Moreover, the findings outlined that, the addition of non-meat ingredients not only improves the quality of the meat products but also reduces the cost and has beneficial health effects on consumers.