Consumer knowledge about protein sources and consumers’ openness to feeding micro-algae and insects to pigs and poultry

Abstract

Meat demand and production is increasing on a global scale. Soy cultivation for feed is associated with negative external environmental effects such as deforestation, transportation of soy over long distances as well as land competition between feed and food. The need for alternative protein sources in animal feeding is therefore very obvious. However, the establishment of alternative protein sources as feed will only succeed if consumers are aware of present feeding practices and if they are willing to buy meat produced with alternative protein sources. This study analyses consumer knowledge on protein sources in animal feeding and the likelihood of consumers being willing to try pork and poultry that has been produced using insects or micro-algae in the feeding regime by means of univariate analyses as well as structural equation modeling. The results show that especially in the case of pigs, consumer knowledge on feeding in commercial farms can be considered to be low. Structural equation models reveal that consumers’ willingness to buy meat that was produced with insects as alternative protein sources depends on attitudes towards product introduction and in the case of poultry also on social norms. The results contribute to carry out further studies on feeding livestock with alternative proteins. However, a limitation of the paper is that the consumer acceptance of alternative feed was only analysed in a hypothetical setting. The results are promising for the introduction of pork and poultry products based on alternative protein sources.