The plant-based smart protein industry is aiming at diversifying plant protein sources to substitute animal-derived proteins. Exploring the protein potential of untapped indigenous crops of India and mapping their nutritional and functional properties are potential areas for future research.
Alternative fat is a key building block of plant-based meat, contributing towards the juiciness, tenderness, and mouthfeel of products. Modifying molecular structures of plant-based oils to create solid fats and structuring them in combination with proteins, phospholipids, or carbohydrates are potential approaches to achieve functional parity with animal-derived fats.
Protein functionality is the key to product innovations in the smart protein sector. Identifying the suitable strategy for functional modification of proteins, preferably physical approaches is the need-of-the-hour.