Dados do Trabalho

Título

CONSUMER INSIGHTS OF PLANT-BASED BURGERS AND ACCEPTANCE OF INNOVATIVE TAMARILLO VEGAN BURGERS

Introdução

Solanum betaceum Cav., popularly known as tamarillo, is an unconventional food plant in Brazil, with growing cultivation. New Zealand is the major producer with around 622 tons/year to use in the processing pulp. Consumers are increasingly looking for new products that not only have a healthy appeal (nutrients and bioactives), but also offer new gastronomic experiences. This work aimed to gather consumer insights about plant-based hamburgers and to assess acceptance of experimental plant-based burgers made of tamarillo pulp (TPF) and its by-product (TBPF) flours.

Material e Métodos

Tamarillo (CEAGESP) was blanched to remove the peel and centrifuged to obtain the pulp and by-products. The material was dehydrated in an oven (55°C/26h) to obtain the flours. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (CAAE: 69324117.8.000.5285). After carrying out preliminary and physicochemical tests on the formulations, the following were chosen and prepared five formulations containing soy protein, mixed quinoa, oat, black pepper, garlic, onion in natura and dried flakes, oregano, salt, olive oil, and water were prepared. One control (without TPF or TBPF), two with TPF (15% and 30% soy protein substitution) and two with TBPF (same % substitution). The consumer test had 124 participants. Firstly, they took a word association task being asked: “When you think of plant-based hamburgers, what comes to mind?”. Then, the acceptance test (9-point hedonic scale) for overall, appearance, color, aroma, flavor and texture liking. Data was analyzed using simple frequency and word cloud (WordClouds.com). For the sensory test, ANOVA and post-Tukey test (p < 0.05) was used (Origin 2024).

Resultados e Discussão

Consumers associated plant-based burgers with positive characteristics, such as healthy, tasty, delicious, and sustainable, and negative sensory characteristics, such as dry, tasteless, and off-aftertaste. The most mentioned word was soy and its derivatives, followed by chickpeas, lentils, and quinoa. Samples showed between 4.66 and 5.39 scores. However, the 15% TPF sample (5.39a ± 1.75) had a higher average overall acceptance (p<0.05) than the 30% TBPF (4.65b ± 2.13), and all the formulations did not differ statistically from the control formulation.

Conclusão

Based on the results obtained, tamarillo pulp and by-product flours can be used as ingredients in the preparation of vegan burgers since an acceptance similarity was observed when compared to the formulation without tamarillo.