**4.2 Food applications**

Legume proteins applications in food formulation are in the areas of nutritional enhancement, technological and functional properties. The advantages of using plant proteins include their being abundant, low cost, and healthful compared to alternatives such as chemical based ingredients. Legume proteins can be used in the form of flours, concentrates and isolates depending on the particular food application. Soybean is currently the most widely used legume protein. The areas where the proteins can be used include bakery products, plant protein based dairy

type products, meat analogues, and emulsifiers [5, 58–60]. Bambara groundnuts can have applications in acidified high acid beverages owing to properties of vicilin fraction of its protein [61].
