Evaluating the sensory properties of hybrid (meat and plant-based) burger patties

Consumer interest in alternative plant-based foods is growing, including products where plant proteins are isolated and reformulated to mimic meat. This study aims to investigate the fundamental changes in sensorial (textural) properties between meat and plant proteins using a hybrid protein burger matrix. Burger patties were used as a model, prepared with a range of protein composition (beef: plant-based protein; 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, and 0:100) with identical added fat (17%) and at two salt (0 and 0.6%) contents. Conventional sensory descriptive profiling elicited 21 sensory attributes and profiles of samples were obtained to explore relationship(s) with composition. Early-stage oral processing texture attributes were well-differentiated across the sample space, while less discrimination was observed across samples for latter stage mastication texture attributes. Animal meat content increased scores for saltiness and flavor intensity indicating that plant-based meat analogues require a higher salt content to achieve similar levels of salt and flavor perception. These findings provide key insights into the impact of meat and/or plant-based protein composition on sensory properties in a hybrid burger patty model system. Future work should consider the mechanical properties of such products with the objective of finetuning ingredients and processing to obtain meat analogues with desirable sensorial attributes.