A review of research on plant‐based meat alternatives: Driving forces, history, manufacturing, and consumer attitudes

Abstract

Meat-based, protein-rich foods have several adverse environmental, health, and animal welfare related consequences. Thus, replacing them with plant-based, protein-rich alternatives has received extensive attention. This paper reviews the background and summarizes recent developments in this area of research, categorizing previous studies in four sections for analysis: (1) driving forces for plant-based meat alternatives development, (2) history of plant-based meat alternatives, (3) manufacturing of plant-based meat alternatives, and (4) consumer attitude toward plant-based meat alternatives. The paper concludes with a brief discussion on key aspects where future research should be focused on to develop more effective strategies for consumer education and to further improve the overall quality of plant-based meat alternatives. – AI-generated abstract.