Nutritional and Sustainability Aspects of Algae and Fungi Sources in Seafood Analogs – A Review

Due to the growing acceptance of plant-based foods among consumers, the seafood analogs sector is rapidly expanding in variety, offering a wide range of available products. As plant-based analogs seem available for nearly all animal-based foods, this could guarantee a transition to more sustainable diets. In the formulated seafood analogs, all concerns are about consumers satisfaction of raw food materials, especially from the nutritive, structural, and sensory standpoints and beside this, economical price of final product. Notwithstanding that market for seafood analogs emerges from various products being developed by companies, algae and fungi not only as protein sources but also as sensory attributes appear increasingly useful raw materials. As such, additional exploration of algae and fungi sources are warranted which are high in proteins and available in large quantities. Therefore, a terse perspective of nutritional and sustainability aspects of algae and fungi sources is presented, drawing from a) nutritional status and health benefits of these sources; b) sustaining the potentials of algae and fungi sources; and c) introducing seafood analog market trends. Essentially, sensory attributes and the health benefits of algae and fungi make them a functional ingredient to apply in seafood analogs.