Nutri Veggie Index: An Innovative Nutrition Classification Scheme for Quality Assessment of Plant-Based Meat Analogues

Growing availability and consumption of plant-based meat analogues (PBMAs) have highlighted the need for nutritional assessment tools specifically designed to address the unique characteristics of these products. This study aimed to develop a nutritional quality assessment tool for PBMAs and to evaluate its applicability, agreement with existing nutritional classification schemes, and usability among nutrition professionals. The Nutritional Quality Index for Plant-Based Meat Analogues (NCS–Nutri Veggie Index) was developed based on expert consensus recommendations and existing nutritional assessment frameworks. The index evaluates seven domains: front-of-package nutrition labeling, characteristics associated with protein quality and quantity, lipid composition, sodium content, dietary fiber, micronutrient fortification, and the inclusion of sociobiodiversity ingredients, generating scores ranging from 0 to 100 and classifying products from A (excellent) to E (poor nutritional quality). NCS–Nutri Veggie Index was applied to 334 PBMA. Among the products evaluated, most foods had intermediate nutritional quality (C), corresponding to 53.0% (n = 177), followed by good quality (B), 33.5% (n = 112). NCS–Nutri Veggie Index showed substantial or excellent agreement with Nutri-Score and the Pan American Health Organization Nutrient Profile Model. The usability questionnaire demonstrated acceptable internal consistency across all evaluated domains. These findings indicate that the tool developed for these products is capable of indicating their nutritional quality.