Protein quality and bioavailability of indigenous crop-based ingredients and plant-based meat products in India
As India explores more diverse, domestic, and affordable sources of dietary protein, understanding protein quality beyond content is essential. This technical brief presents findings from a study conducted in collaboration with CSIR-IHBT.
Overview
The study evaluates the protein quality of indigenous millet- and pulse-based ingredients subjected to different secondary processing and fractionation approaches, as well as commercially available plant-based meat products in their cooked form. Using in vitro gastrointestinal digestion followed by ultrafiltration, the study quantifies the free amino acids released during digestion that pass through the membrane and are considered potentially available for absorption. It examines how crop type, ingredient processing, product format, and cooking method influence these outcomes.
By generating evidence about the nutritional quality of plant-based proteins across the value chain, this technical brief aims to inform ingredient selection, processing strategies and product development.
Background
India has a rich diversity of protein-rich crops, including millets and pulses, that offer opportunities to develop nutritious, locally relevant plant-based alternatives to animal-derived products. However, selecting suitable crops for these applications requires evaluating protein quality alongside protein content.
Thermal and biological processing can alter protein solubility and susceptibility to digestive enzyme action. These effects depend on crop type, the factors limiting protein digestion, and processing conditions, highlighting the need to evaluate individual ingredients and processes rather than generalise across plant proteins.
Additionally, protein content alone is insufficient to establish the nutritional parity of plant-based meat products with conventional meat. The protein sources, formulation, processing history and final food matrix can all influence the nutritional outcome. Evidence comparing indigenous crop-based ingredients and commercially available plant-based meat products remains limited in the Indian context.
This study addresses these knowledge gaps by examining protein quality across raw crops, processed ingredients and end-products, using a harmonised in vitro digestion framework.
Key insights
Protein content ≠ Protein digestibility ≠ Protein bioavailability.
Processing can substantially alter protein solubility, digestion, and the fraction potentially available for absorption, without corresponding changes in total protein content.
Processing effects are crop-dependent.
The optimal approach depends on the crop, the specific factors limiting protein digestion, and the mechanism by which a processing method mitigates these barriers.
Biological processing shows promise for millets.
Sprouting and fermentation improve the bioavailable fraction, suggesting their potential to enhance protein accessibility prior to extraction.
Pulses benefit from both thermal and biological processing.
Pressure cooking enhances the bioavailable fraction in chickpea and cowpea, while fermentation performs favourably across the pulses studied.
Extraction method must be aligned with ingredient application.
Wet fractionation results in higher protein concentration and bioavailable fraction for nutrition-focused applications, while dry fractionation better preserves solubility and can support functionality-driven, clean-label applications.
Cooking plant-based meat does not necessarily compromise protein quality.
In four of the five product formats tested, cooking either increases or retains the bioaccessible and bioavailable fractions of protein, with outcomes shaped by protein source, processing history and product format.
Plant-based meat can deliver comparable or higher bioavailable fractions of protein than animal-derived meat.
Across the product formats evaluated in this study, cooked plant-based meat products demonstrate a higher percentage bioavailability of protein than their corresponding animal-derived meat products. The use of protein concentrates that have undergone prior processing and partial structural modification may contribute towards accessibility to digestive enzymes and enhanced protein digestibility in plant-based meat products.