Emerging Sustainable Processing Technologies for Fava Beans: Enhancing Nutritional Quality and A Pathway to Plant-Based Nutrition
Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is a protein-rich legume with a high potential to be used for plant-based protein and responsible food systems, it is an eco-friendly legume. Its high protein content and balanced amino acid profile along with its high content of dietary fibre and bioactive compounds make it a promising alternative to animal protein sources. Although these benefits, the potential use of faba beans in food products has been hampered by the presence of anti-nutritional factors like vicine and convicine, and protein digestibility and sensory acceptability problems. The present review critically discusses recent developments in sustainable processing technologies aimed at enhancing the nutritional value, protein digestibility and bioavailability of beneficial compounds of faba beans. Apart from the traditional methods like soaking, autoclaving and thermal fermentation, novel methods like enzymatic hydrolysis, ultrasonication and pulsed electric field (PEF) processing are evaluated. In addition to the traditional methods (soaking, autoclaving and thermal fermentation), novel methods like enzymatic hydrolysis, ultrasonication and pulsed electric field (PEF) processing are evaluated. Such strategies are successful in reducing ANFs, improving protein functionality and digestibility, and making bioactive compounds more available, and enhancing sensory properties. Such improvements help to enable the incorporation of faba beans in innovative food products, such as plant based meat replacement, snacks and value added products etc. Moreover, it is noteworthy that biotechnological approaches with the use of specific enzymes and probiotic microorganisms have great potential to reduce the amount of vicine and convicine and enhance nutritional safety. Several green extraction technologies are also available to recover high value phytochemicals in an efficient manner, including ultrasound-assisted extraction and supercritical CO2 extraction. Collectively, these processing strategies emphasize the important role of faba beans in promoting plant-based diets, food security, and sustainable food innovation.