Optimisation and Sensory Evaluation of Nuggets Formulated with Grey Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus pulmonarius) and Corn Flour

Chicken nuggets are popular especially among children. However, most commercial chicken nuggets use highly processed meat products that include emulsified meat and chicken skin which are high in calories, fat and saturated fat. Thus, this research aims to formulate healthier nuggets that can imitate the sensory properties of chicken nuggets using meat alternatives. Mushroom is selected as a meat alternative due to its low-fat, high protein content and meaty texture that can improve the sensory properties of non-meat nuggets. The formulation was developed by optimising the mushroom and corn flour amount using response surface methodology (RSM). The effects of mushroom and corn flour on the consumers’ acceptance towards sensory properties such as aroma, appearance, texture, taste and overall acceptability were investigated using a 9-point hedonic scale sensory analysis. Based on the analysis, the optimised formulation suggested by RSM was found to be 150g of mushroom with 25% of corn flour. At the optimised conditions as stated above, the highest sensory scores for aroma (7), appearance (7.5), texture (7), taste (7) and overall acceptability (7) were observed. The high sensory evaluation results for all sensory properties showed the success of mushroom nugget formulations which could be an important milestone in developing healthy meat alternative fast food products.