Two plant-based products have matched their animal counterparts in a blind sensory test in India, though most of the category still trails meat and eggs on taste, a joint study by NECTAR, India Animal Fund and the Good Food Institute India has found, AgroSpectrum reports.
Overall liking scores ranged from 4.3 to 6.0 on a 7-point scale. A chicken patty and a chicken tikka product showed no meaningful difference in liking from their animal benchmarks. Category leaders were just 0.3 points behind, half the gap of the plant-based average. Eggs, chicken chunks and mutton keema had the most room for improvement.
The highest-impact fixes across categories were more rich, buttery or animal flavours and fewer off-notes. "Values can drive trial, but off-flavours or texture issues will prevent repeat purchases," said Caroline Cotto, director of NECTAR.
Interest is high: 85 percent of participants said they would be interested in buying, partly for animal welfare (50 percent) and environmental reasons (48 percent). Conventional meat still leads on "tasty" and "protein", the largest drivers of purchase.
Protein matters to this market. More than 99 percent of respondents consider protein intake important, and three in four want to eat more meat or eggs to reach their goals. On nutrition panels, 53 percent ranked total protein content first.
Sneha Singh, managing director of GFI India, said indigenous crops and traditional food processing could improve the taste, flavour and texture of these products.
Photo: Andy Li / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
Source: AgroSpectrum
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