Current knowledge on the interfacial behaviour limits our understanding of plant protein functionality in emulsions

For different reasons, there is an increasing interest in plant -based foods as well as vegetarian and vegan dairy and meat alternatives. Frequently, those foods represent dispersed sys-tems and more specifically food emulsions with proteins as emulsifying food ingredients. Owing to a very heterogeneous composition of plant proteins and a wide range of structural varieties in the proteins, it is worth discussing if our current understanding of interfacial and emulsifying properties of pro-teins is sufficient to meet the challenges associated with the utilisation of plant proteins for the stabilisation of food emul-sions. To this purpose, we review the current understanding of the interfacial behaviour of proteins, summarise analytical techniques for their characterisation and critically discuss the available literature on oilseed and legume proteins to identify future research needs and opportunities for customised emulsion design.

Automated summary

There is a growing interest in plant-based foods, vegetarian, and vegan alternatives, leading to a need to further understand the interfacial and emulsifying properties of proteins in food emulsions. The heterogeneous composition of plant proteins presents challenges in utilizing them for stabilizing food emulsions, prompting further research on analytical techniques and future opportunities for customized emulsion design.