Plant-Based Meat Analogues; How far of an Analogue in Microflora?

Nov 1, 2023 (10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Eastern Time)

Webinar Description

Organized by: IAFP's Plant-Based Alternative Products Quality and Food Safety PDG

Plant-based meat analogues are the latest trends in replacing the meat in prepared meals and other traditional meat-based products over health, nutrition, safety, and environmental reasons. With increasing interest, it becomes important to ensure the safety of these products. A recent outbreak, sickening 470 people followed by recall in June 2022 with ground-beef substitute have proven that plant-based meat analogues also come with food safety risks. Peer reviewed comparisons of microbial spoilage of identical meals prepared with meat and meat analogues found the microbial proliferation was faster in hot meals containing meat analogue, especially if the meals were not cooled.
Understanding microbial community and identifying spoilage flora, pathogen serotypes, and virulence genes could provide useful insights. The goal of this webinar is to describe current microbiome research projects focused on spoilage or pathogen presence and persistence in a variety of plant-based meat analogues with particular attention to microbiome transfer dynamics.

Learning Objectives:
1. Use of microbial community profiling in meat analogue products.
2. Potential food safety and quality solutions in plant-based meat products.
3. Understanding spoilage of plant-based products and how it affects food sustainability.