Meat in the middle of the plate, vegetables on the side: A familiar combination that now offers new possibilities in the market for alternative meat products. These have special appeal for consumers who want to eat less meat in general but are unwilling to compromise either on flavor or on consistency. “We see big opportunities for hybrid products, since they offer many benefits,” said Katharina Burdorf, team lead product management Hydrosol. “Vegetables, legumes, and mushrooms offer nutritional advantages, for one thing. And for another they cost less than meat, so recipes can be more economical.”
According to market research, 58% of consumers would try products containing a mix of animal and plant proteins. Hydrosol has developed the PLUSmulson series stabilizing systems for hybrid meat products and cold cuts. They are simple to use and easy to integrate into existing production processes. The meat and vegetable proportions can be varied flexibly. “In our sample recipes we use 60 percent meat and about 25 percent vegetables, but increasing the proportion of vegetables is no problem,” said Burdorf.