Eggplant Nuggets: A Plant-based Solution for Sustainable Food System

Plant-based meat substitutes address rising consumer demand and promote future food security. This study investigates reducing meat content in nuggets by incorporating eggplant, aiming to lessen the environmental and health impacts associated with livestock. The objective was to develop an acceptable meat-based product, specifically nuggets, with reduced meat content through eggplant substitution. It also aims to identify the significant differences on the sensory evaluation of panelists on the sensory characteristics of the developed product in terms of age and gender. An experimental approach was used, employing sensory evaluation with semantic and hedonic scale to assess the developed eggplant nuggets. Results indicate that eggplant nuggets exhibited acceptable sensory characteristics comparable to traditional meat nuggets. The study concludes that eggplant can be successfully incorporated into nugget formulations, offering a pathway to reduce meat consumption while maintaining consumer palatability. The study reveals that all treatments consisting of varying proportions of plant-based ingredients were both acceptable to consumers in terms of sensory level.