Proteins from land plants – Potential resources for human nutrition and food security

• Increasing consumption of plant proteins is needed to address food security.
• Research and commercial market show a strong growth in plant protein use.
• The challenge is to improve nutritional and functional properties of plant proteins.
• New separation and fractionation technologies used to develop new plant based food.
• Formulation innovation required to revolutionise plant proteins as food ingredients.

Increasing utilisation of plant protein is required to support the production of protein-rich foods that can replace animal proteins in the human diet so as to reduce the strain that intensive animal husbandry poses to the environment. From a nutritional standpoint, with the right combination, plant proteins can supply sufficient amounts of essential amino acids for human health requirements. In addition to their role as a macronutrient, proteins play an integral role in structural formation of foods through processes such as emulsification, foaming, gelation and dough formation. This review aims to provide an overview of the major sources of plant proteins, their physiochemical functionalities and nutritional properties, with emphasis on the research needed to support technology innovation for more plant protein to meet world nutritional requirements and as food sources to feed the growing world population.