Has plant-based innovation moved from trend to food revolution?

03 Jul 2019 --- The market for vegan products is booming, with NPD thriving across different platforms such as plant-based milks, burgers and cheeses. Although experts note that it has moved from trend to food revolution status, achieving a palatable and popular taste has been marred with production hurdles. Such challenges are still preventing vegan products from fully transitioning to a mainstream track – although they may be well on their way. FoodIngredientsFirst speaks to experts on achieving a desirable profile for vegan products, from flavor to mouthfeel and aroma, as well as the up-and-coming proteins for the market.

According to Givaudan research, the global plant protein market is expected to grow at 8 percent CAGR to US$13.7 billion by 2021. The flavors specialist further highlights that 57 percent of global consumers are actively seeking protein sources, spurring a 92 percent growth in sales of plant protein products recorded over the last year. Additionally, Innova Market Insights data notes that there has been a 45 percent average annual growth of food and beverage launches with a vegan positioning (CAGR, 2013-2017). These products increased their market penetration in Europe from 1.5 percent in 2013 to seven percent in 2017.

Within the vegan meat space, trends were also highlighted in a 2018 Innova Market Insights consumer survey which showed one in five US consumers “have eaten less meat across the past year.” Meat substitutes accounted for 14 percent of global meat launches in the first nine months of 2018, up from six percent in 2013, the market researcher reports. There has been considerable activity and innovation from new plant-based meat brands targeting opportunities for good-tasting, nutritious and sustainable options among vegetarians, vegans, meat reducers and flexitarians. The market for vegan products is booming, with NPD thriving across different platforms such as plant-based milks, burgers and cheeses. 

A recent report even asserted that most meat of the future will not come from slaughtered animals – instead, by 2040 the majority (60 percent) will be derived from cultured meat or plant-based alternatives that look and taste like meat. 

“The main challenge is making plant protein sources as tasty and satisfying as the animal proteins that we have relied on in the past. Although seemingly obvious, plant proteins are fundamentally different from animal proteins in terms of how they deliver in aroma, mouthfeel and taste,” Dr. Laith Wahbi Director Savory Product Portfolio, Firmenich, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

Moving to the mainstream
Vegan products are moving toward the mainstream, Wahbi notes, but several challenges need to be addressed before they can become genuinely commonplace.

First and foremost, according to Wahbi, taste should be addressed. “We know that consumers will not compromise taste. For vegan products to be truly mainstream, they need to be great tasting products in their own right and not inferior alternatives to meat containing products. The challenge is to make vegan products be great tasting options so that consumers will seek them out on their own.”

Secondly, the nutritional profile of vegan products is significant. “By being meat and dairy-free, products often have key proteins, amino acids and trace nutrients from the diet eliminated. We need to ensure the vegan options are designed so they provide these necessary nutrients for a healthy balanced diet,” she notes.

Lastly, supply chain issues are also paramount for vegan platforms. “The growth in vegan products that rely on plant-based proteins could lead to supply issues. Soy is a well-established crop, but for relatively new crops like pea, this could be a problem. This means we may need time for the producers to increase production. The industry also needs to diversify by expanding the range of proteins used, such as oat, fava beans and pulses like garbanzo beans and lentils. This is beginning to happen but needs to be accelerated.”

Indeed, soy and pea protein have somewhat dominated vegan NPD, but change is occurring. Vegan products are moving toward the mainstream but several challenges need to be addressed before they can become genuinely commonplace.

This month, Givaudan identified the top six up-and-coming plant-based proteins that could likely be game-changers for the food industry, and, in particular, nutritional beverages. The proteins identified are oats, mung beans, garbanzo beans, lentils, flax and sunflower seeds, and were unveiled as the results of a research project conducted in collaboration with the University of California Berkeley’s Product Development Program.

Applying flavor creation flair
However, even these newer protein sources still present R&D challenges in the form of taste, mouthfeel and aroma. The challenge of masking off-notes in protein-rich foods is not a new one, with developers often turning to sugar and salt to change the taste perception and combat astringency and dryness. However, these traditional solutions do not correlate with consumer demand for healthy, nutritious and functional products and often do not achieve the desired taste outcome.

“Through scientific research, coupled with culinary understanding and flavor creation flair, it is possible to understand the chemistry that allows desirable aroma and taste sensations to develop flavors that are designed to perform in the vegan base,” adds Wahbi.

Some products are more likely than others to compensate on attributes such as taste, aroma and mouthfeel, Katharina Schäfer, Product Manager Dairy & Deli at Hydrosol, tells FoodIngredientsFirst. 

“Products such as vegan alternatives to cream cheese are very sensitive to any changes. Regarding texture, we need to consider difficulties in creaminess or elasticity. For example, milk proteins bring stretch and elasticity to cheese and it is hard to replace this with vegetable proteins,” she explains.

The challenge of masking off-notes in protein-rich foods is not a new one, but companies are innovating around it.In this way, technology and product behavior depend highly on the vegetable protein source that is used. Therefore, it is mandatory to know how these ingredients affect the process and the product and this means an extensive know-how in these raw materials is needed, she notes.

Food technology company KaTech is one of the many in the food industry that is reacting to vegan growth by offering convenient product substitutes based on plant ingredients, which aim to achieve the same eating sensation as traditional non-vegan products.

KaTech uses its stabilizer system to develop a wide range of high-quality vegan products with one of the latest examples being a new bakery concept which overcomes one of the biggest challenges in vegan-baked goods – overcoming the loss of the functionality of egg, which usually provides a stable emulsion, structure and texture.

Ingredients for the vegan bakery space can have limited options for development, but KaTech has combined different starches and fiber to build the right structure and added a combination of emulsifiers.

In a similar vein, DuPont Nutrition & Bioscience this week launched GRINDSTED Gellan VEG 200 stabilize. The ingredient is touted as being suitable for a wide range of plant-sourced raw materials, has low protein reactivity and high performance across a broad pH range. Added directly into the mix, Gellan VEG 200 delivers a stabilizing network throughout the shelf life to maintain a homogenous and stable final product. 

“Produced by bacteria during fermentation of renewable, bio-based raw materials, Gellan VEG 200 is a purely natural solution. It provides excellent stability and particle suspension and minimal contribution to mouthfeel,” said Lise Stouby, Senior Scientist, DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences.

The company also recently launched its Grinsted Plant-Tex egg white replacement system, with three different formulae appropriate for vegan alternatives to burger patties, cooked sausages and cold cuts. 

While addressing flavor concerns, Givaudan newly released a selection of holistic masking solutions to counter off-notes across six plant-based proteins: soy, pea, fava, rice, oat, algae and whey. Developed in combination with a new smart masking tool, the solutions were created by conducting over 2,000 evaluations, tried and tested by Givaudan’s expert panel over the past 18 months. The flavor house touts the solutions as highly functioning, enabling suppliers to avoid the cycle of using one ingredient to mask another and then another, in turn supporting clean label ambitions. 

“These days there are dozens of different types of plant proteins being used in product development and often in various combinations. In nearly every case there are off-notes that need to be addressed. The first challenge is to identify the nature of the off-note using multiple descriptors. This allows us to use our SmartTool to select the right masking ingredients to achieve the desired effect,” Dr. Flavio Garofalo, Global Category Director Savoury Flavours and Natural Ingredients at Givaudan, tells FoodIngredientsFirst. 

What’s next?
Plant-based or vegan positioned products are clearly gaining increased shelf-space as consumers become more open to the idea of a diet that doesn't include animal products, or at least seriously reduces them However, hurdles still remain in terms of production, but the industry is responding at a fast pace. From smaller companies and start-ups to ingredient giants, innovation is occurring across the board, offering a multitude of opportunities for innovators.

By Laxmi Haigh