According to a white paper by Innophos, mechanical processes alone aren’t enough for plant-based alternatives to fully replicate the sensory experience of animal-based protein.
There’s no doubt that the plant-based alternative-protein market is growing. While profitability varies from producer to producer, as a whole the market is growing. Markets and Markets says in one report that the global plant-based meat market is projected to increase from $4.3 billion in 2020 to $8.3 billion in 2025, growing at a CAGR of 14.0%. Health and the environment are often cited reasons for people choosing plant-based proteins versus animal-based proteins, but a major stumbling block for many, besides taste, is texture.
A survey entitled “Consumer Acceptance of Plant-Based Meat Substitutes: A Narrative Review” found that 53% of U.S. respondents liked the taste of plant-based alternatives to animal-based meats, but the criticism of plant-based alternatives were mostly about texture. The reason all comes down to how the protein chains between plants and animals are shaped. Animal proteins are comprised of long protein chains of myosin and actin, while plant-based proteins are globular. This fundamental difference is the reason why plant-based alternatives to something like ground beef, where those long chains of animal-based proteins are broken up, are texturally more acceptable to consumers than say a steak where those long chains would remain intact.