The development of vegetarian meatballs with oyster mushroom and tempeh flour using conjoint analysis and organoleptic test

Abstract

People are starting to implement a healthy lifestyle with a vegetarian consumption pattern. The study aimed to determine the importance level between attributes and the utility values of each level to design plant-based meatballs. Furthermore, we compared the sensory acceptances of prototypes product and commercial plant-based meatballs. The study consisted of three stages, which were a preliminary survey (n=51), a conjoint survey (n=163), and an organoleptic test (n=40). The surveys were conducted through online questionnaires. The characteristics of respondents were between the age of 17 to 45 years old. Besides, the respondents had experience consuming meatballs and plant-based food. The preliminary survey resulted in the attributes and level for conjoint questions. The conjoint analysis showed that the attribute importance values from the highest to lowest were elasticity, dominant taste, the information of nutritional value, price, ingredients information, and smoothness. Based on the utility score, the consumer preferred meatballs with a dominant umami taste and a springy and smooth texture. Besides, the label contains complete ingredients composition and nutritional information with the price of IDR 35,000 (USD 2.33) for 25 meatballs. The organoleptic acceptance of the prototype meatball product was not significantly different from the two samples of commercial vegetarian meatballs.