Plant-based foods are more popular than ever, but they still have a long way to go. The healthier plant-based protein options tend to lack when it comes to
Big Read: The battle for the future of milk
11 May, 2021 05:30 AM
9 minutes to read
Photo / FT montage, Getty Images
Financial Times
By: Judith Evans and Emiko Terazono
For the past nine months, scientists at the Lausanne laboratories of the world s largest food manufacturer have been busy working out how best to milk a pea. As the technicians developed their solution combining pea proteins with water, chicory fibres, sugar and sunflower oil they were joining an increasingly competitive fight. With its launch this week of the Wunda yellow pea milk brand, Nestlé became part of the growing international push to convert consumers from the cow s milk drunk for millennia to plant-based alternatives. One rival, Oatly, has grown from humble origins in the Swedish city of Malmö to an upcoming IPO that could value it as high as US$10 billion ($13.7b).
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AMHERST, Massachusetts, January 7, 2021 (ENS) – Technologies like 3-D printing and lab-based meat now enable us to create food in new ways that have left the whole world with an array of new possibilities.
“There are so many exciting things going on in the food science area,” says David Julian McClements, professor of food science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “We’re in the midst of an unprecedented era of rapid scientific and technological advances that are transforming the way our foods are produced and consumed.”
McClements’ most recent book, “Future Foods: How Modern Science is Transforming the Way We Eat,” investigates the intersection of food and science today, not just for students but also for the general public. The book explores the use of technology and design principles to create foods of the future that are more sustainable, healthier, and tastier than foods are today.
Researchers propose standardised testing methods to crack sensory challenge of plant-based milk Despite rapidly growing consumer demand, the quality of plant-based milk products very often underwhelms. The solution? More consistent testing at R&D stage.
There has been a surge of interest recently on the development of plant‐based milk alternatives due to increasing consumer concerns about the ethics, sustainability, and healthiness of animal‐based milks.
Consequently, producers are having to quickly develop and test new formulations to meet rising consumer demand using a range of protein sources such as soy, oat, pea, almond, coconut and flaxseed.
But a lack of standardized analytical methods and protocols is stifling successful innovation in the area, and the more widespread adoption of plant milks is being held back by products lacking the sensory attributes, stability, and functional performance of real cow’s milk.