Health Deficits of Plant-Based Meat Alternatives

The plant-based meat industry is growing to accommodate expanding demands for more sustainable meat alternatives, and emerging alternatives provide consumers with more challenges than benefits.

FREMONT, CA: The growing popularity of plant-based meat alternatives is due to their promise of providing a more sustainable and healthy option than traditional meat. They are a solution for creating a modern food system that benefits humans, animals, and the environment. A shift towards a plant-based diet in high-income nations, which comprise only 17 percent of the world's population, could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 61 percent and enhance carbon sequestration. The market for plant-based alternatives will reach USD 85 billion by 2030.

Nutrition and food safety face several challenges, including chemical and microbial contaminants in the ingredients, issues associated with food adulteration, high levels of food additives, genetically modified foods, mislabeled foods, allergens that are new, vitamin deficiencies, and protein composition changes. The next generation of plant-based foods, it is crucial to consider these issues to ensure they are safe and nutritious.

There are a variety of safety and nutritional concerns when creating plant-based meat compared with real meat.

Protein isolation and functionalization: In plant-based food products, proteins play an important role in technological, physicochemical, and sensory attributes. They affect the nutritional value, chewiness, water retention, and structure of plant-based meat alternatives.

It is important to note that many methods for extracting proteins do not optimize their functionality. They were developed for extracting oils or starches, and denatured or aggregated proteins may compromise their functionality.

Allergens: This stage of plant-based meat creation can raise several food safety and nutrition quality concerns. Several plant proteins are known allergens, such as soy, wheat, pea, and lupin, which may cause health problems in some consumers. Plant-based proteins (especially soy proteins) are also being criticized for being derived from genetically modified sources by some consumers. It remains controversial, however, whether genetically modified foods pose a health or environmental risk. It is also possible for organic solvents (such as hexane) to cause environmental and health problems during protein extraction, particularly if relatively high residual amounts remain in the final product. There is no information on how much hexane is used to produce plant-based alternatives of soy and pea proteins.

Natural toxins: Some ingredients used in formulating plant-based foods may contain natural toxins. Plants produce these substances to defend themselves from bacteria, fungi, insects, and predators. Therefore, the ingredients that make up a product should be carefully selected and processed to avoid, remove, or deactivate these toxins.

Carrageenan, which comes from seaweed, has raised concerns among some researchers. In meat analogs, carrageenan is an additive to thicken, gel, or stabilize the product. Research suggests that carrageenan causes gastrointestinal inflammation, alterations in intestinal microflora, and colon cancer. Obtaining it from contaminated seawater can also accumulate high levels of heavy metals, posing a health risk.