A new approach: Replacement and alternative foods for food industry

Abstract

The increasing human population and nutritional demands has meant that the food industry has tended to look for alternative sources of food production. To this end various studies have been performed in the field of replacement and alternative foods. Replacement foods are based on the substitution of one constituent with another, and these should have the same or similar attributes to ensure optimal organoleptic, microbial, and functional performance. Several studies evaluated the effects of replacement foods to displace the physical functionality of high-calorie ingredients, such as fats and sugar. For fats, the main work focused on fat intake and energy balance using nutritive or nonnutritive materials, while sugar replacers were used for partial sucrose replacement without compensating the loss in sweetness. Moreover, miscellaneous studies have been performed in the area of alternative foods, such as single cell protein, carotenoids, dietary fiber, biovanillin from agrowastes, and Echium oil as an alternative to marine oils. This chapter reviews the utilization of globally used fat and sugar replacers and alternative foods while giving special emphasis to their properties and novel applications in the food industry. Advantages of fat and sugar replacers including their ability to provide an opportunity to prevent unnecessary calorie intake and their ability to reduce high fat and calorie intake while preserving sensorial characteristics are discussed alongside their manufacturing limitations, such as identifying the most appropriate replacement for the specific product. Moreover, the importance and health benefits of the alternatively used nutritional compounds in current studies are discussed.