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Review
. 2023 Jan 15;15(2):452.
doi: 10.3390/nu15020452.

Plant-Based Meat Alternatives: Technological, Nutritional, Environmental, Market, and Social Challenges and Opportunities

Giulia Andreani  1 , Giovanni Sogari  1 , Alessandra Marti  2 , Federico Froldi  3 , Hans Dagevos  4 , Daniela Martini  2
Affiliations
Review

Plant-Based Meat Alternatives: Technological, Nutritional, Environmental, Market, and Social Challenges and Opportunities

Giulia Andreani et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

There is a growing awareness that fostering the transition toward plant-based diets with reduced meat consumption levels is essential to alleviating the detrimental impacts of the food system on the planet and to improving human health and animal welfare. The reduction in average meat intake may be reached via many possible ways, one possibility being the increased consumption of plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs). For this reason, in recent years, hundreds of products have been launched on the market with sensory attributes (i.e., taste, texture, appearance, and smell) similar to their animal counterparts; however, these products have often a long list of ingredients and their nutritional values are very different from animal meat. The present review aims to highlight the main opportunities and challenges related to the production and consumption of PBMAs through an interdisciplinary approach. Aspects related to the production technology, nutritional profiles, potential impacts on health and the environment, and the current market and consumer acceptance of PBMAs are discussed. Focusing on the growing literature on this topic, this review will also highlight research gaps related to PBMAs that should be considered in the future, possibly through the collaboration of different stakeholders that can support the transition toward sustainable plant-based diets.

Keywords: SDGs; alternative proteins; consumer acceptance; flexitarianism; meat analogs; sustainability.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Number of PBMAs’ launches (n = 4965—green bar), new varieties (n = 1910—orange bar), new products (n = 1822—gray bar), new packaging (n = 1822—yellow bar), re-launches (n = 386—blue bar), and new formulations (n = 58—black bar) launched worldwide over the past three years (2019–2021). Abbreviations: PBMAs, plant-based meat alternatives.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Twelve most active countries in PBMA launches over the past three years (2019–2021). Note: Each bar represents the total number of PBMAs’ launches between January 2019 and December 2021. Abbreviations: PBMAs, plant-based meat alternatives.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Food category distribution of PBMAs launched over the past three years (2019–2021). Abbreviations: PBMAs, plant-based meat alternatives.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Word cloud of the top 20 claims employed in PBMA products launched over the past three years (2019–2021). Abbreviations: PBMA, plant-based meat alternative. Note: A word cloud is a visual representation of word frequency and value. The “Social Media” claim indicates the presence on the packaging of a logo/claim to entice consumers to join the company’s social media community and follow its channel/website.
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