RESEARCH PAPER
Optimizing Hybrid Burger Formulations: Impact on Texture and Quality
More details
Hide details
1
Department of Food Technology and Assessment, Institute of Food Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, Poland
These authors had equal contribution to this work
Submission date: 2025-02-05
Final revision date: 2025-04-17
Acceptance date: 2025-05-08
Publication date: 2025-07-16
Corresponding author
Katarzyna Zofia Reder
Department of Food Technology and Assessment, Institute of Food Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, Nowoursynowska 159C, 02-776, Warsaw, Poland
Food Biotechnology and Agricultural Science 2025;79
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
This study aimed to evaluate the impact of selected plant-based ingredients and structural additives on the sensory, textural, and nutritional properties of hybrid burgers (contained 50% meat part and 50% plant part). Hybrid formulations containing seitan, soy protein, methylcellulose (Emulan 2 ATFL and Methocel), as well as a mixed additive blend (each additive included at levels ranging from 0.3 to 3 g per 100 g of the plant-based portion, based on manufacturer recommendations or own assumptions), were analysed for their impact on thermal processing yield, colour parameters, water activity and proximate composition and texture of hybrid burgers. Sensory evaluation revealed high acceptability across all variants. Nutritional assessment indicated that Emulan 2 ATFL increased fat content up to 13.3% (10% in control variant) and energy value without affecting other parameters. Texture analysis showed that the addition of Emulan 2 ATFL increased the cooking yield and penetration force of warm samples, while seitan reduced this parameter. Despite minor differences, none of the structural additives significantly altered colour perception of burgers. The results suggest that hybrid burgers successfully maintain desirable sensory attributes while reducing meat content. However, further research is needed to optimize texture by refining additive selection and concentrations, ensuring improved technological properties for broader consumer acceptance.