Plant-Based Fish Analogs—A Review

Abstract

Recently, plant-based food has become important in the global food market. The increasing demand for plant-based food is a consequence of the increase in both environmental awareness and care for animal welfare as well as the changes in nutritional recommendations. Therefore, food producers are concentrating on fulfilling consumer needs by creating alternatives to animal-based products with comparable nutritional and sensory qualities but from plant-based sources. One promising trend is the production of plant-based fish. Thus, this work aimed to summarize the possibilities of creating plant-based fish analogs, including a review of alternatives to fish products currently available on the market and the possible use of the various ingredients to produce plant-based fish analogs like fillets, slices, as well as sticks, or burgers. Furthermore, the plant-based ingredients were characterized for potential use in fish analogs production. Additionally, the study includes technologies used for plant-based fish analogs production, e.g., texturization, 3D and 4D printing, electrospinning, etc. Furthermore, future perspectives were given considering the challenges and limitations in this range.