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To feed the world's growing population in the future, there must be a protein transition from animal-based to more sustainable, plant-based sources. Hybrid plant-meat products can bridge the protein-transition and are also focused on nutritional and sustainability aspects. While the addition of powdered proteins changes the texture of meat products, textured proteins have been shown to achieve higher sensorial acceptability. Six hybrid pork meatballs, each made with 30% wet or dry textured protein from regional pea, sunflower or Styrian pumpkin seeds and canola oil, were produced and analyzed for their fatty acid, amino acid and sustainability changes compared to respective controls. All hybrids had a higher content in essential linoleic and α-linolenic acid, an improved ω-6:ω-3 ratio and the hypothetic content in dietary fibers increased. On the contrary, the hypothetic protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score for children and therefore protein quality of the hybrids was slightly reduced, albeit high in comparison to the plant-based raw materials. The environmental impact of all hybrids was reduced in a protein- and texturization-dependent manner. Wet texturization seemed to be more sustainable than dry texturization. We conclude that textured plant proteins are a promising additive to produce meat hybrids with improved texture, nutritional composition and sustainability.

High levels of meat consumption are increasingly being criticised for ethical, environmental, and social reasons. Plant-based meat substitutes have been identified as healthy sources of protein in comparison to meat. This alternative offers several social, environmental, and health benefits and may reduce meat consumption. However, there has been a lack of research on how specific meat substitute attributes can influence consumers to replace or partially replace meat in their diets. Research demonstrates that in many countries, consumers are highly attached to meat. They consider it as an essential and integral element of their daily diet. For these consumers, who are not interested in vegan or vegetarian alternatives to meat, meat blended with plant-based-proteins could be a low-threshold option for a more sustainable food consumption behaviour. In these products only a fraction of the meat product (e.g., 20% to 50%) is replaced with plant-based proteins. In this paper, the results of an online survey with 501 Belgium consumers are presented with a focus on preferences and attitudes relating to meat blended with plant-based proteins. The results show that more than fifty per cent of consumers substitute meat at least occasionally. Thus, about half of the respondents reveal an eligible consumption behaviour regarding sustainability and healthiness to a certain degree. Concerning the determinants of choosing either meat blended with plant-based proteins or the corresponding meat product, it becomes evident that a substantial effect is exerted by the health perception. The healthier meathybrids are perceived, the higher is the choice probability. Thus, this motive seems to outperform altruistic motives like animal welfare or environmental concerns when choosing this new product category.