While meat products are a source of many nutrients in human diets, a recent change in consumption has resulted in an increase of individuals eating plant-based meat alternatives instead [1, 2]. These plant-based meats have been advertised as more ethically and environmentally friendly when compared to their traditional animal-based counterpart [2, 3]. What other fermented foods could be promoted by society and why? When discussing plant-based meats vs. traditional meats, many aspects such as flavor, nutritional composition, and appearance, are vastly different [2, 4]. This difference is important to consider in the production of this plant-based alternative, as researchers found that it proved difficult to replicate characteristics of traditional meats in the plant-based alternative. To resolve this issue, scientists have since determined that fermentation could have a significant impact in plant-based meat production [2]. Members of genera such as Lactobacillus, Enterococcus, and Bifidobacterium have been found to vastly improve anti-nutrient properties, allergenic traits as well as additional benefits [5, 6, 7]. Hopefully, this promising discovery will improve and progress this area of food science, as well as add to the list of promising benefits that microorganisms can provide in the realm of food production. Considering the benefits of fermentation in producing plant-based meats, what other foods that do not traditionally involve fermentation do you think could benefit from including it in their production process and why? On a similar note, how does fermentation benefit products that already include fermentation in their production process?
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Since fermentation has been around for so long, I am glad to see it has started to be utilized in plant based meats! Many individuals on strict diets due to religion, environmental factors, or choice now have the option to experience various flavors. However, textural issues and taste do often deter individuals from certain products as explained above. A nontraditional food that could benefit from fermentation is gluten free breads or pastries. Looking at these products compared to those with gluten, the gluten free alternatives lack the texture, taste, and size of traditional products. The addition of fermentation could potentially help with these characteristics.
The main benefits from fermentation in already fermented foods include the digestibility, nutritional value, and probiotic benefits. The digestibility is improved by the breakdown of carbs and proteins, making foods easier to digest. The nutritional value is improved by increasing the bioavailability of vitamins within foods. The presence of probiotics in fermented foods can improve gut health by introducing beneficial bacteria into the digestive tract. A non-nutritional value additive includes the textural enhancement alongside the various flavor enhancements in an array of products.
I would be interested to see if fermentation could help make vegetables more appetizing for young children. Toddlers and early elementary-aged children often refuse to eat many vegetables because of their taste or texture, but need to eat them to remain healthy and obtain all their necessary vitamins. Fermentation can easily alter the texture and flavor of foods, so it seems likely that it could be carefully applied to vegetables to retain their health benefits while potentially becoming more appetizing to young children. This could help keep these vegetables shelf-stable for longer as well, helping busy parents ensure their kids have good nutrition without the tantrums that can accompany eating vegetables or the rapid spoilage of these foods.
The expansion of plant-based meat may be crucial in the future due to the environmental impacts of raising livestock, and the economic impacts of increasing meat prices. Many people may not be able to consume or afford animal-based proteins, plant-based alternatives could be a solution. However, many people don’t like plant-based meat because of textural and flavor differences between animal and plant-based products. I think the use of fermentation in this area is promising because it can be used to modify both. We know that the use of fermentation can be used to change texture, such as creating “ropy” products in dairy fermentation, additionally, specific flavor compounds could be identified, and microbial production could be focused on achieving those specific compounds. If fermentation could solve the problems that consumers have with plant-based meat, then it may be a viable product in the future. Another plant-based product I can think of that could benefit from fermentation research is aquafaba, which is used as an egg white substitute. Aquafaba is made from the liquid from beans, commonly from a can of chickpeas. It is relatively low in nutrients and in some cases the texture isn’t thick enough to provide structure to dishes that rely on the protein content of eggs. Fermentation could be used to increase the nutritional value and to potentially improve the texture of this substitute.