Beyond Imitation: How Food Colloids Are Shaping the Next Generation of Biomimetic Foods.

In the new global landscape of population, environmental, and energy sustainability, the manufacture of future food products that meet human nutritional and health needs is a major challenge. Biomimetic food, as a new type of food, has made significant progress in the use of plant proteins and other ingredients to mimic animal food, and it has also achieved important results in sensory and nutritional properties. In the study of biomimetic foods, food colloids play an irreplaceable role as the key framework for building food structures. In this paper, we first review the recent research progress on food colloids in the fields of biomimetic plant-based food, biomimetic animal-based food and 3D printed biomimetic food. Then, the mechanism of action, application effects, and quality improvement strategies of food colloids are deeply analyzed. Finally, the future research directions and application prospects are envisioned. This paper aims to give theoretical support and practical guidance for the development of biomimetic food through the above elaboration, to deal with the current problems in food development by means of the unique properties of food colloids, and to open up new ideas for the application of food colloids in future food innovation, and then to promote the further development of the field of biomimetic food.