On the Road to Salt Liberation: The Effect of Including Oyster Mushrooms and Sylvinite on the Quality of Traditional Beef Patties

This study evaluated the technological and sensory effects of incorporating oyster mushroom (<i>Pleurotus ostreatus</i>) powder and sylvinite as strategies to reduce salt content in beef patties while maintaining product quality. A 4 × 4 full factorial design was implemented to develop sixteen distinct formulations, evaluating the interaction between four levels of mushroom powder (0, 3, 5, and 10% <i>w</i>/<i>w</i>) as a partial meat replacer and four levels of sylvinite (0, 0.5, 1, and 2% <i>w</i>/<i>w</i>) as a NaCl substitute. To establish a baseline for comparison, control samples were prepared without sylvinite, with a fixed concentration of 1% NaCl. Patties were produced with low-fat content (6%), formed into 100 g portions, and evaluated in raw and cooked states. Physicochemical analyses included color (CIE <i>L</i><i>*</i>, <i>a*, b*</i>), cooking yield, shrinkage, and texture profile analysis, while sensory quality was assessed by an expert panel and complemented with consumer discriminative tests, specifically a triangle test. Multivariate analysis revealed that mushroom powder significantly influenced color parameters, increasing redness and yellowness, whereas sylvinite tended to reduce color intensity; however, their interaction mitigated these effects at intermediate inclusion levels. Mushroom incorporation improved cooking yield and reduced hardness, particularly at 3-5% inclusion, enhancing elasticity and cohesiveness. Sensory results indicated that formulations containing 3-5% mushroom powder and up to 2% sylvinite achieved high overall acceptability. Consumer tests confirmed that these formulations effectively modulated saltiness and texture perception. Overall, the combined use of oyster mushroom powder and sylvinite represents a viable approach for developing reduced-sodium beef patties with acceptable technological and sensory properties.