Plant Proteins as Emulsifiers in the Food Industry: Research Progress, Current Challenges and Future Trends

ABSTRACT The impressive growth in the global market for plant‐based foods has a direct impact on the food industry, requiring greater efforts in product reformulation for the replacement of animal‐based ingredients, including proteins. The replacement of animal‐derived proteins frequently applied as emulsifiers in food formulations, for example, requires efforts to develop new alternatives for efficient emulsification using plant‐derived proteins, especially because these changes can strongly impact food properties (e.g., microstructure, texture, color and flavor). Considering that, in recent years, the interest of food researchers in various types of emulsions produced with plant proteins as emulsifiers has been increasing, as the number of papers published on the subject has tripled. Although many plants have been used as sources of protein emulsifiers, soy proteins are still the most studied ingredients for this purpose. In this context, this review aims to present and discuss different types of emulsions (conventional, Pickering, HIPEs, multiple emulsions and emulsion gels) that use plant proteins as emulsifiers and their possible applications in food. Additionally, the challenges related to such uses are discussed, as are the trends in terms of applications in food products and in vitro digestion.