The best of both worlds? Challenges and opportunities in the development of hybrid meat products from the last 3 years

For sustainability, health and welfare reasons, there is an increased interest in developing flexitarian eating patterns that include more plant-forward choices. In this context, hybrid meat products are emerging as an alternative to traditional meat products as they are produced using a combination of plant and animal ingredients in varying proportions, with the potential advantage of providing a familiar meaty taste and texture, with the added nutritional benefits from plants. The development of hybrid products such as burgers, nuggets, and sausages presents both challenges and opportunities, due to the effects that the plant portion has on the technological and sensory properties (texture, appearance, taste, etc.) of the meat matrices. This review focuses on the last three years, and it highlights the most recent model work that has been carried out to understand how to best manufacture hybrid meat products, the latest research work carried out on the development of hybrid meat products and sensory and consumer studies that have been carried out in various countries in this area to understand how to best market these products. Finally, we mention the use of novel protein sources such as insects and processing methods such as 3D printing and extrusion. •First review on hybrid meat products, with a focus on the last three years.•Both technological and consumer aspects are investigated in the review.•More work on model studies is needed to understand plant-meat matrix interactions.•Extrusion, 3D printing and insects are new interesting directions to explore.•Consumer studies reveal that sensory and messaging are key to increase acceptance.