IN Brief:
- The APAC study tested 20 blended meat products across 10 categories.
- A leading blended chicken mince was preferred to a 100% chicken mince benchmark.
- Researchers said flavour, appearance, and texture remain the key R&D priorities across the category.
NECTAR, working with GFI APAC and A*STAR’s Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation, has published new sensory data suggesting blended meat products may offer a more commercially workable route for alternative protein development in Asia than fully plant-based formats alone.
The study covered 20 blended products across 10 categories and found that one leading blended chicken mince outperformed a 100% animal benchmark on overall liking. In the paired comparison, 41% of participants preferred the blended chicken mince, 29% preferred the conventional chicken mince, and 30% expressed no preference. Across the wider sample, blended products outperformed plant-based benchmarks on average liking in eight of the 10 categories tested.
The findings add weight to a development model that combines conventional meat with plant proteins rather than asking consumers to switch categories entirely. The report also identified flavour, appearance, and texture as the main priorities for further product work, with researchers arguing that taste parity, or better, should be the launch threshold for new products.
For processors, the message is relatively direct. Blended formats appear to offer a more familiar route into reformulation, with a better chance of retaining consumer acceptance while reducing dependence on conventional meat inputs. That leaves mince, nuggets, patties, and other highly processed formats at the front of the development queue.
