A review on sustainable non-thermal approaches for pea protein: Pre-treatment, extraction, modification, and applications

Pea protein is gaining global attention as a sustainable, plant-based alternative to animal proteins due to its lower environmental impact. However, conventional thermal processing methods can degrade its functional and nutritional properties. This review explores sustainable non-thermal approaches for pea protein processing, focusing on pre-treatment, extraction, and modification. Ultrasonication is the most effective extraction technique and offers higher protein content (82.76 to 85.76%) compared to alkaline, air classification, and enzymatic methods. For protein modification, enzymatic treatment proves most effective, enhancing digestibility by 20.86 to 22.50% and solubility by 64.28 to 66.55%, while preserving structural integrity, compared to other non-thermal techniques. We critically assess the impact of these techniques on protein conformation, allergenicity reduction, and bioavailability and discuss their applications in food formulations and plant-based alternatives. Despite technological advances, significant research gaps remain in understanding molecular structural changes and challenges in industrial scalability. Future studies should focus on scaling processing methods.