Plant-Based
Technological interventions to improve the ‘clean-label’ claims of plant-based foods
Consumers prefer clean-label food ingredients and end products. Employing science-based innovations to eliminate the need for synthetic additives would be an effective approach.
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Plant-Based
- R&D
- End product formulation and manufacturing
For more information on this topic, please see the following recent resources:
- What is Clean Label
- Black soybean cooking water (aquasoya) powder as a novel clean-label ingredient in plant-based vegan patties
- Replacing methylcellulose in meat analogues: ‘Plant-based is perceived as better for you, using synthetic additives creates a gap between perception and reality’
- Cyclodextrins produced by cyclodextrin glucanotransferase mask beany off-flavors in plant-based meat analogs
- Ultrasound processing to enhance the functionality of plant-based beverages and proteins
Current challenges
In recent years, consumers have become more conscious of their health. Hence, they are responsive to the ingredient list of products that they consume. Using a minimum number of ingredients and avoiding synthetic additives are key to achieving clean-label products. As consumers are increasingly adopting plant-based meat alternatives into their diets as replacements for meat, it is important to address the ‘ultra-processed’ tag associated with these foods. Apart from plant protein, water, and oil or fat, the formulation of a plant-based meat product includes flavourings, binding agents, stabilisers, preservatives, and colouring agents. These additives are incorporated to achieve meat-like organoleptic attributes (texture and flavour). Consequently, plant-based foods are prone to deviating from the norms of a clean-label product, owing to the presence of multiple, unidentifiable, unknown, and heavily processed ingredients. For instance, as plant proteins are hydrophobic with limited water holding capacity, plant-based meat products often require one or more additives to impart functionalities and organoleptic attributes such as binding, thickening, emulsification, gelation, and succulence (e.g., methylcellulose). In addition, flavouring agents are often required in plant-based meat products to mask the astringent mouthfeel associated with plant proteins. The excessive degree of processing or refining used to develop these additives has led to certain criticisms around the health aspects of plant-based meat alternatives.
Proposed solutions
The use of science-based innovations to eliminate the need for synthetic additives would be an effective approach to achieving clean-label plant-based products. There are a significant number of clean-label plant-based products that have imbibed interesting innovations. For instance, taste modulators have been used to cut-down the levels of ingredients such as sodium, sugar, and fat and mask beany odour and astringency. In another case, fermented celery has been used as a natural means to prolong the shelf life of foods and avoid the use of preservatives. Celery is a vegetable that is inherently rich in nitrates, which is used in the preservation of cured meats such as sausages and hams without interfering with flavour. Seaweed extract thickeners have been used to improve the texture of plant-based meat alternatives, as these are capable of emulsifying and binding the plant protein and water. Carrageenan – an extract from red edible seaweed, has been found capable of stabilising and emulsifying the ingredients in plant-based milk, such as almond milk. Recently, a plant-based meat manufacturing company has come up with a flavour precursor mix that undergoes the Maillard reaction during cooking to develop meat-like flavours without the need for masking or the addition of artificial flavouring agents.
Successful proposals are expected to focus on the following concepts:
- Exploring the chemistry of flavour formation during the cooking of conventional meat, egg and dairy products to simulate the same in their respective plant-based alternatives using additive-free approaches.
- Physical, chemical, or biological modification of plant proteins that are used as major ingredients in plant-based products to enhance their functional properties, such as aqueous solubility, foaming, emulsification, and emulsion stabilisation and gelation.
- Hybrid products approach: Use of fermentation-derived colourants and flavouring agents in plant-based smart protein products to mimic the typical organoleptic characteristics of conventional animal-derived products
- Development of pre-treatment approaches (e.g., thermal treatment or physical modification of plant proteins by novel techniques such as microwave treatment or ultrasonication) or optimisation of end-product development/manufacturing processes such as extrusion to alleviate the limitations associated with plant proteins (e.g., elimination of anti-nutrients and removal of off-flavour causing compounds).