Production of plant-based meat: functionality, limitations and future prospects

Plant-based meat alternatives have been considered from past years, but recently gained much importance in research development and food industries. Concerns related to health, animal welfare, ethical beliefs and environment act as a driving force for the production of protein-based meat analogues. The major challenging work in the development of plant-based meat is to imitate the texture of meat analogues. The production of plant-based meat analogue needs an astute choice and formulation of constituents to perfectly mimic the fibrous texture of meat. Various plant-based constituents like texturized and non-texturized proteins, fats and oils, thickening agents, binding agents, colouring and flavouring agents used with different processing technologies (extrusion, electrospinning, wet-spinning, shear cell, freeze structuring and 3D-printing) for the production of plant-based meat analogues. This critical review highlights essential ingredients for creating these novel meat analogues, emphasizing protein sources, ingredient functionality, production technologies and health and environmental effects of plant-based meat and consumer acceptance towards plant-based meat.