Plant-based dietary shift: Current trends, barriers, and carriers

Background: Plant-based foods in recent times have received attention from environmentalists due to their lower impacts on the environment. Additionally, they are found to improve health better than animal-based foods. Despite the benefits associated with plant-based diets, their full adoption faces several interconnected barriers.Scope and approach: The review aimed to comprehensively highlight the barriers against plant-based food adoption. It also aimed to outline the progress, trends and supporting factors in plant-based food manufacturing and plant-based food consumption. The review finally discusses strategies to overcome the identified barriers against the adoption of plant-based foods.Key findings: It was found that aside from social, economic, nutritional, legal, religious, and cultural barriers, most of the raw materials used in manufacturing plant-based foods are sources of major food allergens. Regardless, plant-based alternative food manufacturing is spreading worldwide, and research activities focused on plant-based foods have tripled in the last three years. In conclusion, despite the existing barriers, the plant based and alternative protein industry appears to thrive, and measures to address the identified barriers have emerged and are yielding a positive impact.