The Consumer Is Always Right: Research Needs on Sensory Perception of Mushroom-Enriched Meat Products

Erick Saldaña () and Juan D. Rios-Mera
Additional contact information
Erick Saldaña: Sensory Analysis and Consumer Study Group, Escuela Profesional de Ingeniería Agroindustrial, Universidad Nacional de Moquegua, Prolongación Calle Ancash s/n, Moquegua 18001, Peru
Juan D. Rios-Mera: Grupo de Investigación en Reformulación de Alimentos (GIRA), Instituto de Investigación de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos (ICTA), Universidad Nacional de Jaén, Carretera Jaén-San Ignacio, km 24-Sector Yanuyacu, Jaén 06800, Peru

Agriculture, 2025, vol. 15, issue 10, 1-17

Abstract: Currently, consumers demand healthier and more sustainable foods, but it must be considered that sensory characteristics directly drive acceptability and preference. The objective of this review was to analyze the functions of mushrooms and the sensory terminology used for the sensory characterization of mushrooms and mushroom-enriched meat products. Efforts have been made to reduce animal fat, salt, synthetic additives, and meat, in which mushrooms stand out because they can replace these components. Various species have been explored, mostly with positive effects on physicochemical, nutritional, technological, and sensory characteristics. However, in the sensory aspect, the results are limited to the measurement of acceptability using a hedonic scale. Studies of the sensory properties of mushrooms relate terms beyond umami. For instance, terms such as fermented, yeasty, musty, earthy, crunchy, hard, sweet, mushroom, nutty, moist, and salty, among others, have been associated with various mushroom species. This terminology needs to be explored in mushroom-enriched meat products. However, little has been explored regarding consumer opinions for the generation of sensory terms to characterize mushrooms or mushroom-enriched meat products, which may be relevant for the purposes of reformulating healthier and more sustainable meat products. In this sense, future studies should explore diverse mushroom species, the amount and form of use, processing conditions, and functions. Therefore, better decisions can be made about which species to use, considering factors that allow for maximizing the benefits of mushrooms. This purpose can be achieved if the background of consumers who evaluate the products through their opinions is explored, which is a direct response to the industrial scaling of mushrooms as new ingredients in meat products.

Keywords: edible mushroom; processed meat; sensory attributes; sensory acceptability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/10/1061/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/10/1061/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:15:y:2025:i:10:p:1061-:d:1655813

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().