Plant based meat products: A sustainable, promising alternative to conventional red meat

Abstract

The demand of the red meat is continuously increasing leading to biodiversity damage and pollution. To overcome this, plant-based meat offers a promising option due to its organoleptic qualities that resembles closely to those of an animal-based meat product. There are a variety of plant protein sources that can be used as an alternative to meat products. Plant-based diets are affordable and have several health benefits like it regulates blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease risk and lower mortality. The popularity of plant-based meat substitutes has increased because of their credibility as functional and healthy alternatives. In addition to providing a similar nutritional value, the creation of animal meat analogues is focused on altering the physical features of meat products to increase the sustainability of these products through appropriate sensory attributes. The composition of meat alternatives is influenced by the dosage and functioning of plant proteins. It is proven that meat alternatives contain 30% of protein and a low level of fat which is a fantastic substitute for meat from a nutritional standpoint. The physicochemical characteristics of the meat alternatives are manipulated by functional plant protein. In the present review, we have discussed various types of plant-based meats available, their physicochemical properties, environmental impact of animal-based meat and future prospective to increase demand and business of plant-based meat.