Meat and meat alternatives: where is the gap in scientific knowledge and technology?

Figures & data

Figure 1. Skeletal muscle structure showing a characteristic hierarchical orientation and major protein constituents. From essentials of anatomy and physiology. https://www.brainkart.com/subject/Essentials-of-Anatomy-and-Physiology_259/.

Table 1. A generalised description and comparison of meat and alternative products.

Product category	Processing	Additives	Product characteristic	Nutrition	Further reading
Whole-muscle meat	Sectioned muscle; minimal processing; tumbling and massaging (boneless hams, bacon, corned beef;…)	Additive-free for fresh meat; otherwise salt (2–3%); phosphate (0.3–0.5%); nitrite (120–200 ppm) and other curing agents; …	Typical meat colour, flavour, tenderness, chewiness, and mouthfeel; juiciness; …	Complete amino acids; rich source of Fe, Cu, Zn, vitamin B1; varying amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol	Toldrá 2022.
Ground meat	Grinding, mixing, and shaping into different products (burgers, fresh, processed or fermented sausages, …)	Additive-free for fresh burgers; salt (2–3%) for sausage and patties; plant protein extenders; seasonings; …	Typical meat colour and flavour; juiciness; …	Complete amino acids; rich source of Fe, Cu, Zn, vitamin B1; varying amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol	Ahmed et al. 1990; Suchenko et al. 2017
Comminuted meat	Finely chopping and emulsifying into batters	Salt (2–3%); phosphates (0.3–0.5%); plant protein extenders; nitrite (120–200 ppm) and other curing agents, seasonings; …	Typical meat or nitrite-cured flavour, colour, tenderness, and mouthfeel; juiciness; fine texture; …	Complete amino acids; rich source of Fe, Cu, Zn, vitamin B1; varying amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol	Claus et al. 1990; Bolger et al. 2017; Xiong 2017
Fibrillised pulse-based meat analogue	High-moisture extrusion to form anisotropic protein fibres; crosslinking to texturise	Adjunctive wheat gluten and polysaccharides; transglutaminase; salt (varying amounts); colourants; seasonings; …	Well-textured; good mouthfeel; varying juiciness; generally weak meaty flavour; low meat-like chewiness	Nutrition can be improved with supplemental nutrients (vitamins and minerals); low in saturated fat but also low in methionine	Van der Weele et al. 2019; Wang et al. 2023
Pulse-based coarse-particle meat alternative	Low or high-moisture extrusion for fibres or texturisation; fabrication for desirable particle size	Polysaccharides, vegetable oil; salt; colourants; seasonings; vitamins and minerals; …	Good flavour and mouthfeel; weak particle-binding; bound water not readily released upon mastication	Nutrition can be improved with supplemental nutrients (vitamins and minerals); low in saturated fat but also low in methionine	Davis et al. 2021; Zhou et al. 2022
Mycoprotein-based fine-particle meat alternative	Fungal fermentation to obtain mycelial protein; blending and compression into structured analogues	Vegetable oil; salt; colourants; seasonings; vitamins and minerals; …	Smooth texture and mouthfeel; spongy	Nutrition can be improved with supplemental nutrients (vitamins and minerals); potential to decrease serum low density lipoprotein	Hashempour-Baltork et al. 2020; Cordelle et al. 2022
Microalgae-based meat alternative	Extrusion or simple mixing and compression into structured analogues	Pulse protein (co-extrudate for fibrillary texture); salt; colourants; seasoning (to mask odour and colour); vitamins; …	Shear force and hardness vary with formulation and moisture content	Nutrition can be improved with supplemental vitamins	Caporgno et al. 2020; Fu et al. 2021
Insect protein-based meat alternative	Requiring co-extrudate proteins for structure formation	Pulse and cereal protein (co-extrudates); colourants; seasonings (to mask odour); salt; …	Texture and mouthfeel vary depending on products (jerkies, sausage, etc.)	Protein quality (essential amino acids) varies extensively; good digestibility; nutrition can be improved with supplemental vitamins	Smetana et al. 2018; Scholliers et al. 2020; Kim et al. 2022; Kurek et al. 2022

Figure 2. Skeletal production of meat alternatives from nonmuscle proteins. Note the three types of meat analogues: whole muscle-like (1), coarse-particle type (2), and fine-particle emulsion type (3).

Figure 3. Micrographs of high moisture-extruded meat analogues made from lupin protein (A; Palanisamy, Franke, et al. 2019) and insect protein (B; Smetana et al. 2018), in comparison with raw (C-a) and stewed (C-b; 100 C 30 min) beef (Kaur et al. 2014) or raw (D-a) and immersion-cooked (D-b; 70 C 30 min) beef (Zhu et al. 2018). Modified from the cited studies.

Figure 4. Schematic drawing of structural and property transitions of dispersed, concentrated lipid systems upon increases in solid fat content or enzymatic crosslinking. From Dreher et al. (2020).

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Data availability statement

The original data of the paper are available upon request.