Caroline Cotto of NECTAR Research and Tim Dale from Food System Innovations join CEO of VegTech Invest and host Elysabeth Alfano on The Plantbased Business Hour to discuss the results of a recent study around consumer perception of blended (or plant-rich) meat.

Publisher of the world’s largest plant-based meat sensory analysis gains access to novel datasets to enable further data-driven research.

In a comprehensive survey about blended meat, Americans were found to prefer half-meat, half-plant burgers and nuggets more than the market-leading, fully animal-derived products.

A new report by NECTAR, a philanthropic initiative working to accelerate the protein transition with taste, has found that 74% of US consumers surveyed are interested or extremely interested in blended meat products.

In a blind taste test, a group of 1,192 omnivores and flexitarians found food products containing a 50/50 blend of animal and plant ingredients to be the most appealing.

“Taste is a primary purchase driver for all food products. If blended meats can offer better taste profiles for omnivores today, they have a significant role to play in the protein transition,” Caroline Cotto, director of Nectar – which carried out the research – told Green Queen.

Plant-based chicken nuggets outperformed meat in a blind taste test

Most plant-based meats underperform on the taste front for omnivores, and blended meat could be a potential game-changer, detailed sensory analysis has found.

Vegan meat analogues need to be spicier, smokier, sweeter, darker, juicer, and bolder to sway omnivores away from conventional burgers, sausages, bacon and other meat products, according to the results from sensory testing by Nectar, a new initiative focused on taste-based protein transition.

World’s largest sensory analysis of plant-based meats reveals unprecedented category-level insights

A new study from Nectar found that plant-based nuggets defeated chicken in the world's largest blind taste test with omnivores