The food industry should not ignore flexitarians

Being flexitarian is becoming more and more popular. If you work in the food industry, you will have stumbled across this term quite a bit recently.

Because flexitarians outnumber vegetarians, pescatarians and vegans, they drive the food industry to offer more plant-based products.

Flexitarians are flexible about when they eat meat

A flexitarian is someone who is actively reducing, or has actively reduced, the amount of animal flesh they consume, but is not eliminating it completely from their diet. How often they consume meat can vary from having a “meatless Monday” to having meat only once a month. Flexitarians put emphasis on eating more vegetables, plant-based meat replacements, nuts, or legumes.

The term “flexitarian” was first used in the early 1990s. It is a mashup up the words “flexible” and “vegetarian”.

Motivations are unique to a person

As is the case so often, the reasons why flexitarians want to eat less meat differ from person to person. It could be that they:

Flexitarians and our research

The Future Foods Catalyst project plans to study flexitarians to further understand the motivations and barriers they have for reducing their meat intake. Knowing what flexitarian consumers look for when they choose plant-based products will better enable the food industry to meet the needs of flexitarians.

Petra Coetzee, 26 July 2021

Aotearoa: shift from volume- to values-based food production

The 2021 Te Hono summit saw numerous discussions about shifting NZ exports from volume to a values-based approach. Māori businesses showcased opportunities for environmental and economic sustainability.

There are challenges in creating premium ingredients and products with health benefits. This is especially true when producing for global markets. Te Ao Māori (The Māori World) is entirely unique to Aotearoa and can be invaluable for Māori who want to create standout foods. Presenters at Te Hono highlighted challenges in protecting mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) in product development.

Future Foods Catalyst researchers attended Te Hono

Dr Meika Foster and Summer Wright are our Māori Future Food Catalyst (FFC) researchers who attended the summit. Meika gave an overview of what future foods can look like for Aotearoa. Summer shared her ideas and the pathway to her PhD: She will focus her research on Māori businesses and consumer relationships with plant-based products.

Te Hono has a values-based focus

Te Hono is a partnership between the leaders of Aotearoa New Zealand’s

Te Hono values strong relationships between land and people. Their vision is for food and fibre that is values-based while at the same time producing high-value products and services.

The 2021 summit in Taranaki saw many very accomplished leaders in the agriculture and technology industries share their accomplishments and challenges in creating high-value foods.

Te Hono (external website)

Summer Wright, 30 June 2021

Mixed-Reality for consumer testing is now available at Massey

Massey University now has cutting-edge consumer science facilities at the Feast Lab. With Igloo, our new mixed reality (MR) technology, we can project 360-degree videos and pictures onto the walls of our lab.

This allows us to simulate almost-real eating/drinking situations. Consumers can, for example, sit on a couch or at a dinner table in the lab whilst the walls show the inside of a home. And yet, we maintain a scientifically-controlled environment.

With this technology, we will collect data on how people feel when eating future foods in a setting closer to real-life.

Traditional booths may not truly show how a product is accepted 

Traditionally, consumer testing is done in controlled settings like sensory booths or conference rooms. However, consumer testing in these conditions does not reflect the real context that someone would typically eat or drink in. Consequently, findings may not truly tell us how a product will be accepted in real-life.

Researchers can mimic real-life in the lab

Evaluating foods in real contexts (like a restaurant or at home) can be expensive and poses many logistical challenges.

Sensory and consumer researchers are therefore trialling a number of strategies to set up more realistic consumption scenarios in a laboratory. These strategies include virtual reality or MR like Igloo or the HoloLens. Here are some other strategies:  

Rebekah Orr, 24 June 2021

10 categories of plant-based products are available in A-NZ

We have identified these categories for plant-based products in Aotearoa New Zealand supermarkets and through other suppliers (incl. fast food chains):

These categories will help us when we identify motivators and barriers for consumer engagement with plant-based products.

Alternative products are made from a wide range of sources

Plant-based products are made using hemp, lentils, quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat, oats, peas, beans, nuts and soy.

Yeast, mushroom and algal proteins (e.g., spirulina and chlorella) can also be found in the ingredients list of alternative products. Although they are technically not plants, we are still interested in them as a future food.

Plant-based products fall into 3 categories of processing

Alternative products can be

• minimally,
• moderately or
• highly processed.

A product that uses the whole plant or components of it is minimally processed. Plant milks fall into the second category. Meat mimics are an example of highly processed products.

Meat hybrids are another form of alternative products

In some instances, plant-based ingredients are combined with animal-based proteins. These proteins can come from eggs or whey. This process helps create products that look and taste like meat or meat-related products. We call them meat hybrids.