Abstract
In an attempt to move consumers toward a more sustainable and healthy diet, meat substitute products have flooded the market. However, consumers tend to be conservative about new food products and technologies that are supposed to replace traditional ones. Thus, it is important to evaluate whether consumers see the benefits of consuming these new products compared to the traditional meat products they are intended to replace. This online study examined how study participants from the German-speaking region of Switzerland (N = 534) assessed the environmental friendliness, healthiness and naturalness of 20 protein-rich foods, including meat, fish, cheese and a diverse set of meat substitutes. The study also aimed to determine how well subjective consumer evaluations corresponded with objective evaluations based on life cycle assessments and nutrient profiling. Results show that most participants did not assume that meat substitutes are automatically healthier and more environmentally friendly just because they are meat-free. Participants did not evaluate meat substitute products as more environmentally friendly than meat or consider them a healthier option. Compared to traditional foods like meat, fish and cheese, meat substitutes were also evaluated as less natural. Furthermore, strong correlations were found between participants’ perceptions of environmental friendliness, naturalness and healthiness, although objective evaluations of these attributes did not correlate. Consumers’ generally negative impression of meat substitute products compared to meat remains a challenge for industry and public health as well as the establishment of more sustainable diets.
Highlights
There has been growing awareness among stakeholders and consumers of the major issues concerning highly industrialized and conventional meat production systems, which constitute most of the global meat production (Hartmann & Siegrist, 2020)
Consumers tend to be conservative about new food products and technologies that are supposed to replace traditional ones
In order to provide the growing world population with protein sources and at the same time limit the burden caused by the mass production of animal protein (Jungbluth, Itten, & Schori, 2012; Poore & Nemecek, 2018), researchers are searching for alternative protein sources for human nutrition (He, Evans, Liu, & Shao, 2020)
Summary
There has been growing awareness among stakeholders and consumers of the major issues concerning highly industrialized and conventional meat production systems, which constitute most of the global meat production (Hartmann & Siegrist, 2020). In order to provide the growing world population with protein sources and at the same time limit the burden caused by the mass production of animal protein (Jungbluth, Itten, & Schori, 2012; Poore & Nemecek, 2018), researchers are searching for alternative protein sources for human nutrition (He, Evans, Liu, & Shao, 2020). As alternatives to conventional meat products, meat substitutes and alternative protein sources have been steadily growing in importance over the last few years. Meat substitutes are not necessarily based only on plant material, and some of these products contain animal protein, such as milk, egg or insect components, in addition to plant-based components. The majority of products in Switzerland, where the present study was conducted, are plant-based or based on mycoprotein and fungi
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
