Chapter 8: Designing Foods with New Food Ingredients

In recent years, rational food design has become crucial to cater for consumers’ specific needs and requirements. Consumers are increasingly aware of the impact of their food choices on their health and the environment. Governments and health organizations have developed policies and regulations to regulate food manufacturers to produce healthier food products by reducing ingredients such as salt, sugar, and fat and adding health-promoting ingredients such as fiber, protein, micronutrients, and bioactives. To ensure food security for the growing global population, researchers recommend shifting to sustainable, nutritious alternatives such as plant proteins, edible insects, and microalgae. This includes incorporating novel production technologies such as laboratory-grown meat and precision fermentation to meet global food needs. This chapter concentrates mainly on food design approaches with modified food composition (i.e. redesigning/reformulating food products with less sugar, salt, and fat, development of food products with low glycemic response) and the use of sustainable alternative/novel food ingredients to replace animal-based foods.