Plant-based meat analogues have been available to consumers for over 20 years. However, the early prototypes were very different in flavor from traditional meat products. Recently, there has been a surge in the development of these alternative meat products, especially in the hamburger area. These new prototypes are making significant progress in appearance and flavor; nonetheless, all of them have significant flavor differences from real hamburger aroma and flavor. This presentation will focus on identifying the sensorial and analytical differences between real hamburger and the leading plant-based prototypes in the marketplace. Correlations between sensorial and analytical will be discussed by leveraging Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry –Olfactometry (GC-MS-O). Many of the plant-based prototypes have elevated roasted note compounds and lack the sweet, meaty, and fatty notes of traditional hamburgers. In addition, these plant-based prototypes are sometimes complemented with herbs or spices to add flavor.

Investigation into the sensorial and analytical differences of traditional hamburgers versus the plant-based analogues

ACS Fall 2021

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