Nutritional and functional properties of alternative proteins

As the size of the human population increases, shortage of essential proteinaceous food products paved the way to found for new, sustainable, and natural protein resources from insects, legume crops, terrestrial and aquatic weeds, and fungi. Due to the rich source of essential amino acids, fatty acids and trace elements, Insect proteins play an important role in the production of alternative proteins. Unconventional legume crops were found to be rich in phytochemical, nutritional, and therapeutic properties, shows excellent properties to withstand extreme environmental condition. This article comprises the recent status of underutilized legume crops, algae, fungi, and insects are used as alternative protein sources, for the production protein rich foods products, including food formulations and functional characteristics features of alternative plant-based proteins and edible insect proteins as novel foods products. Production of alternative protein increases by exploring increased protein quality, advanced processing technology, and large-scale application in the food and industrial sectors. Overall, alternative protein found to play an important role in developing a sustainable food culture, incorporating nutritional safety, and reducing the environmental effects of conventional protein production.