ReviewFoods (Basel, Switzerland)2021
Safety of Alternative Proteins: Technological, Environmental and Regulatory Aspects of Cultured Meat, Plant-Based Meat, Insect Protein and Single-Cell Protein.
Review in Foods (Basel, Switzerland), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 88 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
88 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 294 citations in OpenAlex.
- Environmental Impact of Current Diets and Alternative Dietary Scenarios Worldwide: A Systematic Review.Nutrition reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Mapping the evidence of novel plant-based foods: a systematic review of nutritional, health, and environmental impacts in high-income countries.Nutrition reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Physiological temperature enhances proliferative capacity and protein production characteristics of chick satellite cells.Food science of animal resources · 2026Article
- Protein-Based Probiotic Delivery Systems: Structural Basis, Functional Roles, and Food Applications.Comprehensive reviews in food science and food safety · 2026Review
- Shaping the Future Plate: Exploring the Safety Concerns of Cultivated and Conventional Meat Production.Physiological research · 2026Review
- The use of edible insects in human food.Journal of the science of food and agriculture · 2026Review
- Rethinking Sustainability in Plant-Based Proteins: A Systems Perspective from Crop to Consumer.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Food Safety and Nutritional Aspects of Plant-Based Dairy and Meat Alternatives: A Review.Food science & nutrition · 2026Review
- Insects as an Alternative Protein Source: A Sustainable Approach to Future Food Security.Insects · 2026Review
- The Rise of Plant-Based Proteins: Consumer Perception and Challenges.Food science & nutrition · 2026Review
- Utilization of Fermentation Process for the Production of Novel Plant-Based Meat Analogs: A Review of Microorganisms, Processing, and Regulations.Comprehensive reviews in food science and food safety · 2026Review
- Article
- Enhanced Stability and Bioavailability of Defatted Cricket Protein Hydrolysates Encapsulated in Alginate-Coated Liposomes.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Article
- Nutritional, Ethical and Ecological Aspects of Cultured Meat with Particular Emphasis on Functional Food Production: A Comprehensive Literature Review.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Engineering genetic elements for microbial protein expression systems: Advances, challenges, applications, and prospects.Synthetic and systems biotechnology · 2026Review
- Plant-based analogues to meat and dairy for sustainable food systems.The Proceedings of the Nutrition Society · 2026Review
- Future Protein Sources in Sports Nutrition: Sustainable Solutions.Current nutrition reports · 2026Review
- A Comprehensive Review on Innovative Food Gelling Strategies for Sustainable Production of Meat Analogs and Restructured Meat.Gels (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Have the environmental benefits of insect farming been overstated? A critical review.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
28 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Food security and environmental issues have become global crises that need transformative solutions. As livestock production is becoming less sustainable, alternative sources of proteins are urgently required. These include cultured meat, plant-based meat, insect protein and single-cell protein. Here, we describe the food safety aspects of these novel protein sources, in terms of their technological backgrounds, environmental impacts and the necessary regulatory framework for future mass-scale production. Briefly, cultured meat grown in fetal bovine serum-based media can be exposed to viruses or infectious prion, in addition to other safety risks associated with the use of genetic engineering. Plant-based meat may contain allergens, anti-nutrients and thermally induced carcinogens. Microbiological risks and allergens are the primary concerns associated with insect protein. Single-cell protein sources are divided into microalgae, fungi and bacteria, all of which have specific food safety risks that include toxins, allergens and high ribonucleic acid (RNA) contents. The environmental impacts of these alternative proteins can mainly be attributed to the production of growth substrates or during cultivation. Legislations related to novel food or genetic modification are the relevant regulatory framework to ensure the safety of alternative proteins. Lastly, additional studies on the food safety aspects of alternative proteins are urgently needed for providing relevant food governing authorities with sufficient data to oversee that the technological progress in this area is balanced with robust safety standards.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.