Combining protein sources could provide healthy, tasty, sustainable meat alternatives

Meat consumption is rising globally, yet industrial-scale use of animals to produce meat, seafood, dairy, and eggs has serious environmental, health, and ethical implications. Because of this, the food industry is exploring alternatives.

While many plant- and mycelium-based products are already available, they have yet to be widely adopted by consumers—largely because of limitations in taste, nutrition, affordability, or scalability.

In their Frontiers in Science article, Kaplan and McClements review each approach and assess how they can be combined to produce hybrid alternative proteins. These foods combine different types of protein to balance the strengths and weaknesses of each.

This explainer summarizes the article’s main points.

Why is there a growing interest in alternatives to meat and other animal food products?

Meat, dairy, and other animal-derived foods require significant amounts of energy, land, and other resources. Mass production of animal proteins, particularly in intensive factory farms, raises many concerns around:

• the environment and climate change

• animal welfare

• human health

• antimicrobial resistance

• animal-to-animal and animal-to-human disease transmission.

Despite these concerns, global meat consumption continues to rise. Per-capita intake remains highest in developed countries, while in many developing countries, rising incomes are contributing to a “nutrition transition” toward more meat-rich diets.

Together with population growth, these trends are driving extra demand for protein that cannot be met using animal sources alone, leading the food industry to explore alternative protein options in both developing and developed nations.

What types of meat substitutes are being developed?

Alternative proteins can come from a variety of sources, but they must be both feasible for manufacturers and appealing to consumers. For example, whole meat has a complex architecture of muscle, fat, and connective tissues that is difficult to recreate.

Meat analogs also require a large number of ingredients and extensive processing, which consumers may view as unhealthy “ultra-processed” foods (UPFs). While evidence suggests links between high UPF consumption and adverse health outcomes, whether one causes the other has not been established. Researchers are therefore working to redesign these products to make them healthier and more comparable to animal alternatives.

Kaplan and McClements reviewed the main approaches used to create meat analogs:

• plant proteins are abundant, inexpensive, and scalable, but products made from them often lack the flavor and texture of animal meat and are sometimes seen as UPFs

• cultivated meat—animal cells grown in bioreactors—can closely match the sensory and nutritional qualities of animal meat, but remains costly, difficult to scale, and faces regulatory hurdles

• mycelium-based products—grown from fungi—are already used in successful commercial analogs. Although they naturally provide a fibrous texture and good nutrition, other ingredients like binders, flavors, colors, and preservatives are often added to better simulate meat

• microbial fermentation can produce proteins and other functional ingredients for analogs, but is currently limited to high-value components such as pigments and enzymes because large-scale production is expensive

• insects are environmentally efficient and highly nutritious, with around 2 billion people worldwide already consuming them, particularly in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. However, in many Western countries, consumer acceptance is low due to cultural preferences, perceptions of disgust, and some safety concerns.

How can hybrid food products help reduce consumption of animal proteins?

Despite growing interest, most people do not regularly include meat analogs in their diets. The pros and cons of the different alternative protein sources suggest that combining them into hybrid products may be more successful.

These hybrids typically use plant proteins as a base because they are cheaper and more accessible. Adding another protein source—such as cultivated meat, mycelium, or insects—can help meet consumer expectations of taste, texture, and nutrition.

Some hybrids also include a reduced amount of conventional meat. While unsuitable for vegetarians or vegans, these products have a lower environmental footprint than standard meat and offer a familiar sensory experience for omnivores and flexitarians. Studies show that substantial fractions of meat in burgers or sausages can be replaced with plant proteins without significantly affecting consumer acceptance.

Even small additions can improve plant-based analogs. For example, hybrids made mostly of plant ingredients with just 3% cultivated meat are already sold in Singapore. Mycelium can also introduce texture and nutrients that plants alone may not provide. The vegan meat analog Quorn™, made from mycelium bound by a plant protein matrix, can therefore be considered a mycelium–plant hybrid.

What are the challenges of making hybrid foods commercially viable?

One of the major factors to consider for hybrids is consumer acceptance. Fears of new food technologies and concerns about UPFs will need to be addressed by building public trust through effective communication. Products must also deliver desirable flavors, textures, and health benefits.

Safety is another critical consideration, including risks of microbial contamination, chemical toxicity, and allergens. Certain plant and insect sources may contain natural compounds that inhibit nutrient digestion or absorption, which may negatively affect health. Combining different protein sources can also affect digestion and the human microbiome, sometimes beneficially and sometimes negatively, depending on the formulation.

However, because hybrid foods are new, regulatory approval remains fragmented. Certain cultivated meat and hybrid products have been approved in Singapore, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel, but there is no harmonized global system, which makes it harder for producers to expand internationally.

Cost remains a significant barrier. Many alternative protein products, especially cultivated meat, remain very expensive to produce. Scaling up production could lower the cost, but this will also require finding cheaper and abundant raw materials for cultivation and building larger bioreactors.

How can hybrid foods become more widely adopted?

Making hybrids that appeal to consumers will depend on efforts across academia, businesses, investors, regulators, and the media. Kaplan and McClements propose the following steps to deliver accessible, desirable hybrids:

• reduce costs, scale up production, and improve the taste and texture of each protein source

• improve the design of hybrids by understanding how combinations affect final products

• build manufacturing facilities capable of producing large quantities at lower cost

• analyze a broader range of hybrids to compare their environmental and economic impacts against animal products

• monitor consumer attitudes to hybrids and use marketing to highlight their benefits

• use AI to identify ingredient combinations and processing methods that deliver the desired taste, texture, nutrition, and sustainability.