Environmental concerns together with a growing global population and health benefits call for an increased use of plant proteins in the human diet. This review paper summarizes opportunities and challenges of such an increased use and reveals the way forward for plant proteins for human consumption. The results clearly emphasize the increased consumer interest, especially in certain consumer segments, of the use of plant protein-based food alternatives, the positive environmental impact of the use of such alternatives and the wide array of crops available to be developed into novel protein-rich food choices. Major challenges identified are; i) how to combine different plant sources to receive highly nutritional and tasty food products, ii) how to produce crops with a high and easily extractable protein content, which simultaneously contain low amount of unwanted components such as antinutritional factors, iii) environmental effects of the production of the plant protein to be utilized for the protein-rich food items, and iv) economic feasibility of the plant protein food products. Opportunities exist to develop the processing methods for protein fractionation, although consumer preferences, environmental effects, economic feasibility and impact on protein functionality have to be taken into account in such developments. Plant breeding is summarized as a major way forward to target crops high in easily available protein and low in unwanted components, thereby fitting consumer desires simultaneously as contributing to economic feasibility and reduced environmental impact. Cultivation is the main source of the environmental impact in the plant protein value chain, while protein content, composition and extractability affect consumer preferences and both their economic and environmental impact.
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