A meta-review of consumer behaviour studies on meat reduction and alternative protein acceptance

Abstract

Transitioning away from meat-heavy diets towards more plant-based diets is beneficial to environmental and public health as well as animal welfare. However, current food consumption practices do generally not follow this “protein transition”. Therefore, we are in need of taking action to accelerate the protein transition. We conduct a systematic review of systematic reviews (hereafter ‘meta-review’) to provide an overview of potential drivers and moreover we observe these findings from a policy perspective, resulting in two main outcomes. First, the meta-review mapped potential drivers in terms of capability, opportunity, and motivation. The latter appeared to be given more attention. Motivational and opportunity drivers emerged as the most prominent. Especially motives, emotions, awareness, taste, and physical environment (redesign of menus, defaults, portion sizes and visibility of plant-based options) proved relevant with high evidence. Social and cultural environment, familiarity, food neophobia, and development of skills appeared promising but remained under-researched. Second, the present meta-review reviewed the findings from a policy perspective. The number of studies that translated findings to policymaking or included policy evaluations turned out to be limited. Besides, all studies only refer to non-coercive interventions. The meta-review finalizes with the most prominent routes for future research and policies. It highlights the need for an integrated framework, comparative research and a focus on real-life and long-term behaviour change, to support coherent research and scholarly conclusions on the one hand and evidence-based, action-oriented policymaking targeted at the acceleration of the protein transition on the other.