Mouthfeel assessment of alternative proteins: what we know so far?

The gradual shift from animal proteins towards more sustainable, alternative-protein based diets presents undesirable mouthfeel challenges, such as astringency, non-juiciness impeding their mass adoption. This review explores our current understanding of mouthfeel of alternative proteins using in vitro and sensory testing. Analysing recent data in the literature using a mouthfeel assessment score, we identify a fragmented issue in mouthfeel terminology across alternative protein, where astringency is sparsely recorded, particularly in solid foods. We identify that the mouthfeel assessment landscape in alternative proteins is largely dominated by a selected few, commercially-extracted legume protein isolates and concentrates tested at low protein concentrations. Particularly, the mouthfeel of microbe-derived proteins generated using precision fermentation remain principally unexplored. We underscore the need for mouthfeel lexicon for alternative proteins, vitally including astringency. We foresee the prospects of integrating transformative data science approaches predicting mouthfeel and using standardized lexicon to fast-track the development of alternative protein-based products.