When you bite into a juicy hamburger, slice into the perfect medium-rare steak, or gobble down a plateful of chicken nuggets, your senses are most likely responding to the food’s smell, taste, texture, and color. For a long time, these four attributes set meat apart from other food groups.
But in recent years, food companies have started to focus on the development of meat alternatives. Many people believe that transitioning away from meat-heavy diets can help with environmental sustainability as well as improve their own health.
The two main focuses of research have been on plant-based meat alternatives and lab-grown meat. Both have interesting challenges. Lab-grown meat requires growing animal cells and generating a meat product. Plant-based meat alternatives use plant materials to recreate animal-like structures and flavors.
Major food companies that have generated plant-based meat alternatives that consumers seem to enjoy include Impossible, Beyond Meat, Mosa Meat, and Quorn.
From a scientific perspective, the development of plant-based meat alternatives is especially intriguing because food manufacturers and researchers attempt to create products with similar textures, flavors, appearances, and nutrient compositions to those juicy hamburgers or tender chicken fingers.
