Food Engineering Highlights Alternative Protein Trends

In March 2023, Food Engineering reviewed the state of the alternative protein products market and highlighted five key trends they are seeing.

One trend from the article is based on the research that says 53% of U.S. respondents liked the taste of plant-based alternatives compared to animal-based meats, but the criticism of plant-based alternatives were mostly about texture.  However, Innophos is finding ways to make whole cut meat alternatives possible.

According to a white paper by Innophos’ Karen Winkowski, PhD, Songwei Wu and Amr Shaheed entitled, “Solutions for Plant-Based Meat Substitutes”, one way manufacturers are able to better able to make plant-based whole-cut meats is through phosphates.  Using phosphates can increase consumer adoption of plant-based alternatives to meat by increasing or by creating a similar overall experience to animal-based protein products.

“Phosphates are key ingredients in developing appealing meat substitutes because they impact protein functionality (for example: ability to form gels, hold water, absorb fat, emulsify),” say the authors. “These functionalities impart sensory characteristics to the food products such as flavor, texture and taste which ultimately determines consumer acceptability of new products.”

Read more in the FoodEngineeringMag.com article: 5 Trends in Alternative Protein