FEBRuary 2023
Plant-Based
Growing
Keeps
Shifting consumer perceptions of plant proteins pose challenges for today’s plant-based product developers.
Part 1
Video courtesy of Getty Images / margouillatphotos
According to a recent Kroger/Plant Based Foods Association study, consumers tuned into plant-based eating are seeking more convenience, greater health benefits, and more attractive pricing in the category. The research suggests that to grow the category, new products and brands must appeal to an expanding market by providing these product features while creating the right messages to attract new buyers.
Formulating plant-based products to maximize nutrition and deliver function is a growing opportunity, and selecting the right building blocks in formulation is important. The gap between nutrition delivery and consumer desires is one that can be filled by a new generation and greater variety of products.
By Webb Girard, MS, Contributing Culinology Editor and the CuliNEX team
Food manufacturers are looking for ways to increase nutrition density and deliver consumer aspirations around food functionality with herbs, fruits and vegetables, and other additions. But achieving high enough concentrations of desired nutrients to provide an on-package message can sometimes present a challenge. One of the foremost of these is attaining sufficient levels of protein.
Protein 101
There are multiple issues and limitations in the processing and extraction of plant-based proteins. One major challenge is the difficulty in achieving high protein yields from plant-based sources to replace animal protein. Many plant-based protein sources have, ounce-for-ounce, low protein content and require significant amounts of raw material to produce a small amount of protein.
Developing the final product to allow for fewer ingredients and a narrower preparation profile is today’s best recipe for final consumer appeal. Photo courtesy of: Thrilling Foods, Inc.
Naturally derived flavor boosters can help reduce sodium while adding much-needed umami notes to animal protein analogs. Photo courtesy of: Ajinomoto USA, Inc.
The explosion of options in both sources and technology demonstrates the commitment of ingredient makers and product developers to hit the mark on protein content in a new product. These new plant-based protein sources and processing techniques are improving the nutritional content, efficiency, and sustainability of product formulations. Extraction technology continues to improve through wet, enzymatic, ultrasound, membrane, and other processes. Preparation and design of the ingredient to refine and change the protein properties is evolving through extrusion and emergent technologies.
In addition to advancements in biotechnology, genetic engineering also is being used to improve the efficiency and sustainability of plant-derived protein production. This does not necessarily mean lab-based genetic engineering. Agritechnology is finding ways to breed and cultivate seeds, grains, and legumes to naturally boost protein. Breeding of the cultivars is optimizing for solubility and functionality, and is evident in the formulation process on the bench.
New technology is creating growing options for developers to build plant-based analog formulations that appeal to a growing consumer base. Photo courtesy of: Daiya Foods, Inc.
Plant Protein Mix & Match
Plant-based proteins are diverse when it comes to flavor, texture, and functionality in formulation. For that reason, most product makers lean toward blends. For example, Impossible Foods, Inc.’s Impossible Burger includes potato protein and textured wheat protein, while Beyond Meat, Inc.’s Beyond Beef products are GMO, soy, and gluten-free, made with a proprietary blend of pea, mung bean, and rice protein. Working with plant protein suppliers can help product developers craft the right proteins in the right combinations to attain products that perform to highly specific sets of organoleptic and functional parameters.
Fermentation, too, is a technology that has shown promise for plant protein production. Not only is it a way to produce raw protein from plant cells, fermentation also is a way to modify and refine the characteristics of protein to make them to optimize and improve flavor and texture characteristics and make them otherwise more appealing.
Finally, the digestibility of plant proteins will continue to be important as we drive for more effective/efficient proteins for consumers. Bio-availability is a growing area of concern, and the development of cultivars and processing will impact the future for the winning sources and forms to be used for consumers products. End of Part 1
Webb Girard, MS, Senior Director of R&D, leads the team at CuliNEX, LLC, a leading product development consultancy specializing in clean-label and plant-based formulation. Holding food science degrees from the University of Idaho and the University of Maryland, he is a veteran manager focused on projects requiring technical expertise in product/process improvement, process standardization, and plant scale-up. Reach him at webb@culinex.biz.
FEBRUARY 2023
