Plant based diet and Protein analogs
Plant based diet is becoming popular with all age groups including babies who will be weaned in families where plants forms the main menu of their diets. This diet has been revolutionalised to include even festive dishes for weddings, birthday parties, and religious events. The plant based diets are also well appreciated for weight management programmes. Plant based diets are popular for their low saturated fat content which helps in managing non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and obesity.
Some of these plant ingredients have also been transform into meat analogs such such cheese, milk, burgers and pates. The texture and flavour of meat analogs still remains a challenge as some of the seeds and grains used can produce unfavourable flavours in the ultimate products. Protein analogs such as edible insects are very popular for their high protein quality and high mono- and poly-unsaturated fats.
On the other hand the natural appearance of edible insects do not have a lot of consumer acceptance and/ or preference thereby a lot of these edible insects have been processed and transformed into a more appealing and acceptable form such as powders or ingredients of food products.
Questions People are Asking?
Are protein analogs safe?
The protein analogs are made from food ingredients which would have passed the food safety for the plant ingredients to be deemed safe for consumption. Therefore, these are supposed to be safe if all food safety legislation and regulations have been followed for the food to be on the market. If food companies follow the normal hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) and good manufacturing practices (GMPs) should be followed from farm to fork for the production of the protein analogs. These food safety measures will eliminate the usual pathogens, toxins, and potential food contamination which could lead to food borne diseases and/or outbreaks of food poisoning.
For consumers, whenever working with the protein analogs, always think about food hygiene (cross contamination, cleaning, cooking and chilling); food safety (use by and best before dates, allergens and tolerances, additives, chemicals (these might be generated during food processing for example acrylamide in potatoes heat at high temperatures); physical foreign bodies (ice formed from sudden cooling of some certain foods); and food poisoning (Salmonella, E.coli, and Listeria). Seeds have risks of aflatoxins and some low home made preserved vegetables have risk of food borne botulism. Botulinum toxin can be destroyed by heat treatment and proper cooking procedures are encouraged at all times.
Are plant based diets really sustainable?
The protein analogs are perceived to be sustainable but considerations should be made on what key performance indicators are being considered. Food and nutrient security can only be achieved if the consumers have access to safe and nutrient balanced food. But due to climate challenges certain produce can not be grown from certain regions and hence food will have to travel mileage thereby increasing greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide deeming foods unsustainable. When considering others factors such as land and water usage, methane production, balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere, the plant are considered better and sustainable foods.
The food industry is working with all stakeholders to promote food purchases and consumptions of foods grown locally. These have included using artificial intelligence (AI) at point of sale to determine the consumer behaviour and food preference. The AI has also been collating vital information on food waste through the food supply chain, recycling, upcycling, and packaging.
The food can only be sustainable if all the inputs used to produce the final product are considered and this has raised a number of concerns around generation of food waste, energy poverty, clean label, texture and flavour of protein analogs, consumer perception and preference of plant analogs, as well as long term health risks of leaving out some of the nutrients from animal based products.
Challenges
Food borne hazards of protein alternatives (edible insects)
Edible insects are viable replacements of animal based food products but have serious complications of food borne hazards such as allergens, chemical hazards due to difference in speciation in different regions, microbial risk (usually reduced if insects are farmed in a controlled environment), and parasitology risk (Belluco et al, 2015). Belluco and co-workers (2015) published a detailed review on the food borne hazards and suggested that further research is required to establish the food safety of edible insects especially those harvested from uncontrolled farming environments which will be sold on the market to improve socio-economic status of populations in deprived societies.
Consumer perception
The consumer perception of protein analogs has been explained by Stanley et al (2022), focusing on the challenges of the effect of consumer physiology, food neophobia and texture and flavour differences between the plant based and animal based products. Regardless of how sustainable the plant based products are, the physiology of the consumer seem to take precedence over the environment.
During the religious festive seasons, consumers tend to be in the mentality of enjoying food and hence some of the sustainable diets may not be part of the menu. This is at a time when a lot of varieties of food products are consumed, flexitarian consumers would enjoy the meat products just for that period and thereafter reduce their meat consumption.
Character Impact Compounds
Other flavoured products have gained the market share for example additions of character impact compounds(CICs) in some of the plant based products or protein analogs to mimic the flavour of their meat counterparts. The odour activity value will then be determined as the concentration of the The odour activity value (OAV) is defined as the ratio of the concentration of a compound in the food or food extract, to its odour threshold.
The single most important group of aroma chemicals in beef are derivatives of 2-methyl-3-furanthiol (MFT) (Lowe, 2002), which is commonly formed in Maillard reactions of meat during cooking. In meats, MTF is found at a much higher level in roast beef, up to 28mg/kg, compared with 9 in pork, 11 in lamb and only 4.5 in boiled chicken(Kerscher and Grosch 1998). The character impact compounds are available as natural products in meats or as artificial compounds.
On the other hand beany flavour, bitter taste, and astringency are undesirable chemosensory perceptions often associated with plant analogs. The CICs impacts the meat flavours in the protein analogs but will not be able to alleviate the off-flavours such as odours, stringency, and bitter aftertaste which are usually associated with protein analogs. Further research still need to be done to address the negatives of consumer perception of plant analogs as well as food safety.
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic
Food industry and consumers emerged from the COVID-19 with a mix of nutrition and health outcomes. The food industry has developed and upgraded technology to reduce the reliance on food importation just in case the air space is closed at some point. This has worked in favour of sustainability and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. On the other hand, the consumers have emerged with some health challenges. Some who were infected by the virus might be long hauler suffers. Loss of smell and taste which is really vital in determining the quality and safety of the food.
Consumers who would like to upcycle food according to its smell or taste might not be able to do so. Thereby generating food waste due to physiological changes to their sense of smell or taste or both. The data on food waste which is generated through loss of smell or taste is still to be gathered and reported on.
Summary
Only focusing on sustainability when choosing a diet is not enough as consumer eat safe food to maintain good health, therefore health will always be considered first before environment. The impact of COVID-19 on health and food security and sustainability should also be considered at all times.
Other Focuses
We have not covered other key topics which are of concern by the consumers. These include packaging (recyclable and edible), nutrient deficiencies, and food processing. These will be covered soon.
More information
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Short course on Sensory Science Foundation course visit https://sensoryscience.coventry.domains/ or contact us through the contact us page.
Resources
- Websites
Food safety – Food Standard Agency read more on https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/hazard-analysis-and-critical-control-point-haccp
- Periodicals
Belluco, S., Losasso, C., Maggioletti, M., Alonzi, C., Ricci, A., and Maurizio G. Paoletti, M. G. (2015), Edible insects: a food security solution or a food safety concern?, Animal Frontiers, Volume 5(2), 25 – 30.
Kerscher, R., and Grosch, W., (1998), Quantification of 2-Methyl-3-furanthiol, 2-Furfurylthiol, 3-Mercapto-2-pentanone, and 2-Mercapto-3-pentanone in Heated Meat, J. Agric. Food Chem. 46(5), 1954–1958.
Rowe, D. J. (2002), High Impact Aroma Chemicals II – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Stanley, N., Villarino, C.B., and Nyambayo, I. (2022), Overcoming the barriers to sustainable heatlhy diets, Food Science and Technology, Volume 36(1), available online at onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ doi/10.1002/fsat.3601_11.x
