The plant-based protein category is facing a paradox. At the very moment it should be gaining ground - with sustainability concerns rising, consumer demand for lower-meat diets growing, and reformulation investment accelerating - it is being caught in the crossfire of the ultra-processed food debate. Products that deliver genuine protein, fibre, and nutritional value are being lumped in the same category as highly sugared drinks and reconstituted snacks, and the damage to consumer confidence is real.
The answer is not to abandon the category or retreat to defensive PR. It is to understand where plant-based proteins genuinely fall short - and build products that close those gaps. That means confronting the three questions that serious plant-based product developers need to answer: how does the nutritional profile actually compare to animal protein, what is the UPF classification actually measuring and what it is not, and where is the micronutrient gap that most products are still failing to address.
At BIOVIT Live, we brought together three experts who between them span academic research, food science, and commercial product development: Dr Driando Ahnan, food scientist and co-founder of the UK tempeh brand Better Nature; Nicole Britain, Innovation Manager and Nutrition Lead at plant-based meat brand THIS; and Dr Tom Wilson, digestion and bioavailability researcher at Aberystwyth University. Their combined perspective cuts through the noise.
Plant vs Animal Protein: What the Research Actually Compares
The headline claim that plant-based diets are healthier than animal-based ones is real in some contexts and misleading in others. The research that shows health benefits from plant-based eating typically compares high plant intake against the habitual Western diet - which means high consumption of red and processed meat, not lean animal protein in a balanced diet. That comparison matters.
“Direct plant versus animal comparisons often mislead. The studies linking adverse health outcomes to animal protein are typically looking at red and processed meats - not lean sources. When you look at the full picture, plant proteins excel particularly in fibre, which is crucial for UK diets where most people are significantly under-consuming it. Animal proteins provide highly bioavailable micronutrients like iron and zinc. Both have strengths. Nutrient composition is a more useful lens than the plant or animal label.” - Dr Tom Wilson, Digestion and Bioavailability Researcher, Aberystwyth University - speaking at BIOVIT Live
On protein digestibility, the picture is similarly nuanced. Plant proteins have historically been measured as less digestible than animal proteins - but much of that research compares isolated ingredients rather than whole food products in the context of a mixed diet. Laboratory digestion assays that model real enzyme function and pH conditions, applied to complete food products rather than isolated powders, often show more favourable outcomes for plant proteins than the isolated comparison data suggests.
Some plant proteins - soy, for example, and certain fermented proteins - already deliver complete amino acid profiles with good bioavailability. The assumption that plant protein is categorically inferior to animal protein is not well supported by the current evidence base. What is well supported is that certain micronutrients remain a genuine challenge.
The Ultra-Processed Food Problem: What the Classification Is and Is Not
The NOVA classification system - which places foods into four categories from unprocessed to ultra-processed - has been adopted enthusiastically by consumer media, policymakers, and campaigners. And it has trapped plant-based meat alternatives in a category they share with crisps, carbonated soft drinks, and confectionery.
This is a legitimate problem for plant-based product developers. Consumer trust has been affected. Retail listings have been challenged. And brands that have invested heavily in nutritional quality, fibre content, and ingredient transparency find themselves tarred with the same brush as products that are nutritionally indefensible.
“The UPF stigma lumps nutritious meat alternatives in with crisps and biscuits, and that is simply not fair or accurate. What matters is whether a product is delivering the nutrition people need and expect - protein, fibre, and micronutrient fortification. Even if it is processed, it can still be genuinely nutritious. The challenge is consumer education. And maybe the answer is not to try to make a product that is simultaneously heavily processed and looks like it has no ingredients. Some formats are better suited to certain consumers than others.” - Nicole Britain, Innovation Manager and Nutrition Lead, THIS - speaking at BIOVIT Live
The NOVA classification was designed as a research tool - specifically to enable population-level dietary analysis, not as a consumer-facing quality signal. Applying it product by product, without reference to nutritional composition, produces absurd results: a tempeh product created through controlled fermentation of soybeans, delivering 20g of protein per serving with complete amino acid profiles and naturally generated B12, sits in the same NOVA category as a glucose-syrup snack cake.
“Processing is not inherently a negative force. Fermentation is processing - and it is one of the oldest and most nutritionally beneficial food technologies humans have ever developed. The question should be what does the processing do to the nutritional value of the food, not simply how many steps were involved. UPF classification is broad by design. It should not be the primary measure of whether a food is good for you.” - Dr Driando Ahnan, Food Scientist and Co-founder, Better Nature - speaking at BIOVIT Live
Fermentation: Why Some Processing Makes Food Better
Tempeh is the clearest example of processing as a nutritional positive. Dr Driando described the production process as feeding baby mushrooms - Rhizopus mould introduced to cooked, dehulled soybeans, packaged with controlled air exposure, and left to grow for 24 to 72 hours. As the mould grows through the beans, it binds them into a firm, sliceable block.
During this process several nutritionally significant things happen. Protein and fibre content increase as overall mass reduces - the mould is contributing its own protein and fibre to the matrix. Enzymes released during fermentation break proteins into amino acids and fats into fatty acids, making these nutrients significantly more bioavailable than they were in the raw bean. And bacterial co-fermentation during the process can generate Vitamin B12 - one of the only plant-derived circumstances in which meaningful B12 production occurs naturally.
“The longer you ferment, the more umami-promoting amino acids are released. Fermentation therefore contributes directly to taste - which is exactly where plant-based proteins most need to improve. Our trials upcycling oat milk and soy milk by-streams have produced oncom - a close relative of tempeh made from press cake - with around 50 grams of protein per 100 grams. It is a completely natural product using what would otherwise be a waste stream, and it has the nutritional profile that plant-based innovation has been trying to achieve.” - Dr Driando Ahnan, Food Scientist and Co-founder, Better Nature - speaking at BIOVIT Live
The tempeh model points toward what the next generation of plant-based protein development could look like: processing methods that increase nutritional value rather than simply creating palatability, applied to underutilised raw materials, producing cleaner labels with better protein density and improved micronutrient profiles.
The Micronutrient Gap: The Problem Most Plant-Based Brands Are Still Not Solving
When plant-based products replace animal protein in a consumer's diet, the macronutrient story - protein, carbohydrate, fat - can be managed adequately. The micronutrient story is harder. The three nutrients most likely to be deficient in diets that rely heavily on plant-based alternatives are Vitamin B12, Iron, and Zinc. All three are present in animal proteins in highly bioavailable forms that plant foods cannot reliably replicate without deliberate fortification.
The plant-based micronutrient gap: what adequate fortification needs to address
- Vitamin B12: absent from all plant foods except through fermentation or contamination. Deficiency causes irreversible neurological damage. Fortification is not optional - it is a duty of care.
- Iron: present in plants as non-haem iron, which is significantly less bioavailable than the haem iron in meat. Absorption inhibited by phytates in plant foods. Higher amounts needed to achieve equivalent absorption.
- Zinc: widely present in plant foods but bioavailability reduced by phytates. Deficiency affects immunity, wound healing, and cognitive function.
The irony of this gap is that it is most acute in the brands whose consumers are most committed to clean-label values. A flexitarian buying a plant-based burger for health and sustainability reasons is also, overwhelmingly, the consumer most likely to read the label and most likely to be alienated by synthetic fortification that undermines the product's natural positioning.
“There is a lot of work to do on raw materials - ingredients that can help formulators deliver micronutrients into products more naturally and effectively. The innovation is as much upstream in the supply chain as it is in the finished product. Getting iron into a plant-based product in a form that is taste-neutral, bioavailable, and reads as food on the label rather than chemistry - that is where the real formulation challenge sits.” - Nicole Britain, Innovation Manager and Nutrition Lead, THIS - speaking at BIOVIT Live
Natural fortification addresses this gap directly. BIOVIT's Iron from curry leaf is taste-neutral, avoiding the metallic off-flavours associated with ferrous sulphate in plant-based matrices. B12 from shiitake mushroom appears on an ingredient list as a recognisable food rather than cyanocobalamin. Zinc from guava leaf carries the same label transparency advantage. For plant-based brands, the switch from synthetic to natural fortification is not just a marketing decision - it is a coherent expression of the brand values that drove the product into existence.
What Good Plant-Based Product Development Looks Like
The panellists converged on a consistent picture of what the best plant-based protein products will look like as the category matures. Taste remains the primary consideration - it always has been, and no amount of nutritional virtue will sustain a product that consumers do not enjoy. But taste is increasingly solvable, and the brands that will win are those that solve it without compromising on what their consumers actually care about.
“We probably do not need to discover entirely new plant proteins - we have enough existing ones. The opportunity is making the existing ones better and more effective for the job they need to do. That means better bioavailability, better taste, better fortification, better affordability. Precision fermentation, natural sodium alternatives, whole food proteins from seeds and mushrooms - all of these are tools that exist. The maturity gap between plant-based and animal protein is real, but it is closing. And the plant-based supply chain has structural efficiency advantages at scale that the animal protein chain will never have.” - Dr Tom Wilson, Digestion and Bioavailability Researcher, Aberystwyth University - speaking at BIOVIT Live
The innovation imperative and the consumer education imperative are inseparable. Products that are genuinely better - nutritionally, environmentally, in terms of label transparency - will eventually reshape what consumers reach for. But they need to be available, affordable, and well communicated. Education without distribution is insufficient. Distribution without education is fragile.
“Every industry - poultry, dairy, plant-based - is actively shaping what people believe and what they reach for. Even if people understand the case for plant-based protein intellectually, they will ultimately eat what is available, affordable, and accessible. Both innovation and mindset shift are essential. They feed each other.” - Dr Tom Wilson, Digestion and Bioavailability Researcher, Aberystwyth University - speaking at BIOVIT Live
The Role Natural Fortification Plays
For food and drink brands developing plant-based protein products, the micronutrient question is not a detail. It is the difference between a product that genuinely serves its consumer and one that delivers on protein while leaving the most vulnerable nutritional gaps unaddressed. And for a category whose entire commercial premise is built on transparency and values alignment, the source of that fortification matters enormously.
Natural fortification - B12 from shiitake, Iron from curry leaf, Zinc from guava leaf - is not just cleaner on a label. It is coherent with the reason the product exists. Better Food For All starts with better ingredients. And in plant-based protein, the micronutrient gap is exactly where better begins.
Formulating a Plant-Based Product? Let's Talk Micronutrients.
BIOVIT supplies taste-neutral, naturally derived B12, Iron, and Zinc specifically suited to plant-based formulations. Request a sample or book a formulation call to discuss your specific product.
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