{"id":1316,"date":"2022-06-27T21:58:59","date_gmt":"2022-06-27T21:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/futurefoodscatalyst\/?p=1316"},"modified":"2022-06-27T22:09:14","modified_gmt":"2022-06-27T22:09:14","slug":"cultivated-meat-scary-or-exciting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/futurefoodscatalyst\/2022\/06\/27\/cultivated-meat-scary-or-exciting\/","title":{"rendered":"Cultivated meat \u2013 scary or exciting?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\"Petri-dish
Cultivated meat is grown in a laboratory environment. Photo by Drew Hays<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

Cultivated meat is a developing technology that produces meat, without the need of animal slaughter. To produce cultivated meat, tissue is removed from a living animal (e.g. a salmon, cow or duck) and grown into cuts of meat\/fish in a laboratory by feeding the tissue with essential nutrients. Cultivated meat is sometimes called lab-grown meat, clean meat, or cell-cultured meat. Because the technique is in its early stages, you can\u2019t currently buy cultivated meat in supermarkets or restaurants. Except if you live in Singapore \u2013 Restaurant 1880 was the first place to serve cultivated chicken in December 2020.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Consumers want familiar products<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n

On the other hand, consumers generally want products that are familiar. The novel production technique of cultivated meat may be a concern for consumers. Once technical challenges of upscaling cultivated meat production are overcome, consumer acceptance will determine whether cultivated meat will be successful. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Consumer perceptions from Aotearoa are limited<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Although consumer perceptions of cultivated meat have been investigated in other countries, research on consumer perception of cultivated meat in Aotearoa is very limited. The strong meat culture in Aoteraoa could be a barrier for interest in cultivated meat \u2013 as the consumer may want \u2018the real thing\u2019. On the other hand, cultivated meat may be of interest to meat-eaters who are conscious of their meat intake, but are only willing to use an alternative that tastes like meat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Is this the ‘real thing’? Photo by Charlie Solorzano<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

The majority of flexitarians in Aotearoa are willing to taste cultivated meat<\/span><\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

FFC researchers conducted an online study, in collabortion with the University of Auckland. This study aimed to determine how flexiatarians in Aotearoa currently perceive cultured meat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We found that in a large sample group of 572 flexitarians, just over 50% of respondents were aware of cultivated meat. After respondents were presented with information about cultivated meat, almost 70% indicated that they would be happy to taste cultivated meat. However, consumers were less likely to engage regularly; only half said they would regularly consume it and only a third would regularly purchase cultivated meat instead of conventional meat. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Cultivated meat perceived to be more sustainable and animal friendly than traditional meat<\/strong> <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"A
Consumers have concerns about the naturalness of cultivated meat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

The study group thought that cultivated meat will be more environmentally sustainable and animal friendly than conventional meat. On the other hand, they thought cultured meat is less natural than conventional meat. From previous studies, we know that naturalness is an important factor for product acceptance. Importantly, enhanced environmental sustainability of cultivated meat is not guaranteed until proven once commercially available.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Consumer characteristics affect perceptions of cultivated meat<\/strong> <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, perceptions of cultivated meat were more positive: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • In men compared to women,  <\/li>
  • Millennials compared to Generation X,  <\/li>
  • those with low compared to high meat consumption frequencies,  <\/li>
  • those who were aware compared to not aware of CM prior to the survey,  <\/li>
  • and those who were interested in trying new foods compared to those who were not.  <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    This information gives us an indication of which consumers may ultimately be early adopters of cultivated meat, and for developing marketing strategies once it is commercially available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    Education concerning cultivated meat may enhance adoption of cultivated meat<\/strong> <\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
    \n
    \n

    So, we now know that the majority of flexitarians would be willing to taste cultivated meat. Although gender and age affect consumer perceptions, we know that awareness and willingness to try new foods also play a role. To enhance adoption of cultured meat, it will be important to educate consumers about the concept to increase their awareness and familiarity.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    \n
    \"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Caroline Giezenaar, 28 June 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Cultivated meat is a developing technology that produces meat, without the need of animal slaughter. To produce cultivated meat, tissue is removed from a living animal (e.g. a salmon, cow or duck) and grown into cuts of meat\/fish in a laboratory by feeding the tissue with essential nutrients. Cultivated meat is sometimes called lab-grown meat, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/futurefoodscatalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/futurefoodscatalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/futurefoodscatalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/futurefoodscatalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/futurefoodscatalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1316"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/futurefoodscatalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1378,"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/futurefoodscatalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316\/revisions\/1378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/futurefoodscatalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/futurefoodscatalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/futurefoodscatalyst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}