Optimising the use of proteins from rich meat co-products and non-meat alternatives: Nutritional, technological and allergenicity challenges

An exponential growth in the global demand for high quality proteins over the next 20 years is expected, mainly due to global population growth and the increasing awareness toward protein rich foods for more nutritive diets. Coupled with this, is the pressing need for more sustainable approaches within a bio-economy mindset. Although meat production is expected to increase to address this rising demand, a better use of the currently available resources provided by the food, and specially, the meat industry is required. In this regard, despite the high-quality proteins and other nutrients found in meat co-products; they are currently underused and their valorisation needs to be revisited. Also, emerging protein sources need to be investigated to alleviate the environmental pressure coming from the meat industry. In this review, the main focus was attributed to (i) the current and forthcoming challenges for the use of meat co-products as meat replacers to produce a new range of meat derived products (with high nutritional value, improved technological properties and better consumer acceptance); (ii) their performance regarding to the non-animal origin proteins currently used as meat protein replacers; and (iii) the allergenicity of the proteins that might fall into the category of novel protein sources.