Many consumers want to eat a more plant-based diet yet don’t want to give up meat and fish entirely. With hybrid products, where meat or fish is partially replaced by a plant-based source, manufacturers can offer the best of both worlds: dishes that are close to the original in terms of taste and texture but with reduced meat content. Our Meatless® plant-based texturates give these products the right bite and texture, whilst increasing mouthfeel and juiciness.
Across Europe, people are re-assessing their relationship with meat and look towards intake reduction. Specially amongst the younger generation, the numbers are impressive – they either have already started eating less meat of have clear intentions to doing so in the near future. A recent Mintel study showed that for example in France, Italy and Spain, already 1 in 2 young consumers has reduced their red meat/poultry consumption (Germany not far behind with 48%)¹. 1 The industry is responding to this trend by developing a growing number of plant-based alternatives. However, even if the trend is progressively plant-based, manufacturers should not be fooled, as the majority of consumers still reach for steak, sausage or fish – but, for various reasons, do so less frequently than before.
So-called hybrid products are designed to appeal to precisely these consumers, containing both animal and plant-based components. Protein sources that are found in vegan and vegetarian alternatives, such as wheat, faba beans or peas, can also be used in hybrid products. When a part of the meat is replaced, the typical meaty texture remains nearly identical or gets even better in terms of juiciness and nutritional profile. If a higher portion of meat or fish is to be replaced, natural texturisers, flavourings and colourings can be used to recreate the familiar taste and mouthfeel. Alternatively, manufacturers can create innovative, standalone hybrid products.
¹ Kantar Profiles/Mintel, internet users aged 16+ (France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Spain) December 2022 and September 2024
Huge market potential
The first wave of hybrid products arrived in German supermarkets as early as 2021. Ingredient manufacturers such as BENEO believe that such products have the potential to become an essential part of the global diet based on strong supporting arguments: They provide the anticipated meat-like texture and juicy mouthfeel with less fat, combining nutritional and sensory benefits. Depending on local raw material prices, it can also offer recipe cost reductions. These hybrid concepts offer an interesting solution, too, next to the plant-based products, for those who do not (yet) identify as vegetarian or vegan.
Hybrid products have a potentially broad target group: Globally, almost 1 in 3 consumers identifies as flexitarian and 4 in 5 consumers have already adopted or are on their way to adopting a meat-reduced lifestyle. ² These figures come from a global consumer survey conducted on behalf of BENEO which also investigated the specific potential of meat hybrid products, with half of European respondents saying that they were interested in them. At a global level, flexitarians in particular showed the highest purchase intention, with 71% saying they would buy a meat hybrid. 1 Respondents mainly saw the products as a way of reducing meat consumption (49%) or maintaining a sustainable and innovative approach to nutrition (43% each). However, the survey also revealed that some consumers still have concerns about the taste of such products.
² BENEO Global Plant-Based & Meat Hybrids Survey 2023 – Dynata conducted an online quantitative survey in January 2023 in Germany, UK, France, Spain, Poland, USA, Brazil and Thailand (Total sample = 6167).
Clear messages promote consumer acceptance
As with every food innovation, manufacturers should not just wait for increasing familiarity among shoppers, but create transparency by clearly communicating the products, their origin and, above all, their benefits – directly on-pack. Instead of focusing on the percentage of meat replaced, producers can highlight nutritional benefits of both the meat and the plant-based sources. The nutritional profile of hybrid meats can be well balanced. Plant-based components can add fibre and minerals to the meat and often reduce the fat content and calories of the end product, opening up opportunities to improve its Nutri-Score. However, when a greater amount of meat is being replaced, the protein content of the hybrid product is often lower than the original version. Adding plant-based proteins to the recipe can allow to achieve a similar protein content as the full-meat version. The type and quality of the functional plant-based ingredients is therefore crucial in order to provide a good nutritional profile while keeping the taste and texture close to the original.
Hybrid focus, a future perspective
With its plant-based Meatless® texturates, BENEO aims to ensure greater quality, sustainability and cost efficiency in meat and fish alternatives as well as in hybrid products. Since acquiring the Dutch company Meatless B.V. in 2022, the ingredients manufacturer has gained additional expertise and a broader portfolio of plant-based texturates and semi-finished products. BENEO covers larger parts of the value chain with its Meatless® products, e.g. made from field bean concentrate and rice flour, and makes the further processing process easier for customers. With a dedicated Meatless® sales team, the company is increasingly focussing on the market for hybrid products that combine meat or fish with plant-based ingredients and thus reduce the proportion of animal-based ingredients. Hybrid products have clear arguments in their favour: they offer the familiar taste and texture of the original, but can be made even juicier with plant-based Meatless® Texturate. They also offer additional nutritional benefits such as a lower fat content. Due to the continuing price increases for meat and fish, they also lead to lower recipe costs. This is particularly interesting for minced meat products, which are very price-sensitive due to their high sales volumes.
Burger patty with less meat and the same flavour
The BENEO Technology Centre uses Meatless® texturates to develop test recipes for vegan, vegetarian and hybrid solutions. In the hybrid segment, recipes for meatballs, fish burgers and minced meat have been developed. Meatless® field bean flakes, for example, were used to develop a hybrid burger with 30 per cent less beef, which has a firm texture, high juiciness and a fat-like mouthfeel. The flakes lower the fat and calorie content of the burger and can reduce recipe costs. They can be easily integrated into existing recipes and production processes and have very good freeze-thaw stability.
Recipes like these show that the nutritional profile of hybrid products can be well balanced: Plant-based components provide fibre and minerals, and in many cases reduce the fat content and energy density, which can help to improve the Nutri-Score. If the hybrid product does not contain a large proportion of meat, manufacturers can also use plant-based proteins to achieve a similarly high protein content to regular meat. With a balanced nutritional profile and short ingredient lists, hybrid minced meat can appeal to health and environmentally conscious consumers who want to reduce their meat intake without compromising on flavour and texture.
Cooperation on an equal footing
Consumers that buy hybrid products will benefit both their conscience, their taste experience and their wallet. In addition to an appealing sensory profile, manufacturers should therefore consider cost efficiency from the outset. Close collaboration with ingredient manufacturers during recipe development offers an advantage for those producing end products that will land on supermarket shelves. Hybrid meat products allow manufacturers to satisfy consumer demand for less meat, while hybrid fish options can be a solution to the growing challenge of over-fishing. At the same time, cutting meat or fish in a product is an easy and effective way to reduce its impact on the environment.
BENEO is convinced that an exchange of expertise between product and ingredient manufacturers not only achieves the best results in terms of taste and texture, but can also achieve a more cost-efficient recipe. Besides benefitting from access to the application experts at the BENEO-Technology Center, food manufacturers can also rely on the BENEO-Institute’s expertise for questions relating to food law and nutritional physiology, as well as the latest scientific findings.
| Ingredients (% w/w) | Meatless® recipe |
| Minced beef | 70 |
| Meatless® Faba bean flakes | 30 |
| Minor ingredients (e.g. salt and pepper) | q.s. |
