Plant-based satay for vegetarians

KUALA  NERUS, May 7 (Bernama) -- Consumers’ increasing awareness on the importance of living a healthy lifestyle had inspired a group of researchers at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) to produce  satay products made of honeycomb mushrooms.

Following a six-month collaboration and using their varied expertise, the lecturers namely Dr. Tuan Zainazor Tuan Chilek, Dr. Amir Izzwan Zamri and Dr Fisal Ahmad from the School of Food Science and Technology (PPSTM) developed the vegetarian-satay (V-Sate) products.

Team leader Amir Izzwan, said the three of them started developing the product in June last year. With  the help of six third year students from the Food Science Faculty they used the blast freezing technology to maintain the freshness, integrity and structure of the product .

"Nowadays people are opting for plant-based foods and vegetables for health reasons. Mushrooms are one of several sources of protein packed with nutritional value and they offer good amounts of fibre  to promote bowel health. 

"Although V-Sate is made of honeycomb mushrooms its taste and texture are very similar to meat, thus they are easily acceptable and well-liked," he told Bernama when met at the UMT Centre for Food Science and Technology Studies (PPSTM) here today.

“As the product is 100 per cent from plant sources it is suitable for vegetarians as well as people who are particular about their diet,” he said adding that the vegetables do not contain cholesterol and fats while its calorie content is relatively lower than chicken or meat.

According to  Amir Izzwan, in addition to diversifying mushroom-based food products, V-Sate's production could generate income for mushroom producers and help solve problem of excess production at any one time.

“Mushrooms which have been harvested must be processed immediately because they have very short life span and may live for two to three days.

"This is one of the dilemmas of the mushroom cultivation industry, especially with honeycomb fungus which have not been marketed widely as compared to the oyster mushrooms," he said.

Amir Izzwan added that the frozen V-Sate products would be marketed in packs of six sticks together with peanut sauce to be sold at RM7.90 per pack.

He said the team had also collaborated with T-Kitchen a subsidiary of Terengganu Incorporated, to provide suitable and attractive packaging in enhancing product quality should the products be marketed at a higher level in the future.

"We are in the process of obtaining copyright protection for V-Sate and we hope to receive it soon. For a start we will market this product at a supermarket in Tanah Merah, Kelantan which also supplies honeycomb mushrooms to UMT.

"If the response is good we will expand to Terengganu and other states,” said Amir Izzwan who is currently in the process of producing organic skewers which can be eaten together with the satay.

He said V-Sate's latest innovation in the food industry had enabled his team to earn a silver medal in the International Food Innovation & Product Development Competition 2018 held at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam in December last year.

-- BERNAMA