Promises of meat and milk alternatives: an integrative literature review on emergent research themes

Abstract

Increasing concerns for climate change call for radical changes in food systems. There is a need to pay more attention to the entangled changes in technological development, food production, as well as consumption and consumer demand. Consumer and market interest in alternative meat and milk products—such as plant based milk, plant protein products and cultured meat and milk—is increasing. At the same time, statistics do not show a decrease in meat consumption. Yet alternatives have been suggested to have great transitional potential, appealing to different consumer segments, diets, and identities. We review 123 social scientific journal articles on cell-based and plant-based meat and milk alternatives to understand how the positioning of alternatives as both same and different in relation to animal-based products influences their role within the protein transition. We position the existing literature into three themes: (1) promissory narratives and tensions on markets, (2) consumer preferences, attitudes, and behavioral change policies, (3) and the politics and ethics of the alternatives. Based on our analysis of the literature, we suggest that more research is needed to understand the broader ethical impacts of the re-imagination of the food system inherent in meat and milk alternatives. There is also a need to direct more attention to the impacts of meat and milk alternatives to the practices of agricultural practices and food production at the farm-level. A closer examination of these research gaps can contribute to a better understanding of the transformative potential of alternatives on a systemic level.

“Protein” Industry Convergence and Its Implications for Resilient and Equitable Food Systems

“…These trends raise concerns that cellular meat and fish will be quickly monopolized by dominant firms, thus maintaining or even increasing power asymmetries in food systems (Santo et al, 2020). An emphasis on providing cellular alternatives may actually increase consumption of the non-cellular meat and seafood products sold by these firms, due to reinforcing the belief that such foods should be a central part of diets (Lonkila and Kaljonen, 2021). The utopian promises of new technologies frequently lead to overestimates of their potential impacts (Chiles, 2013), but substantial growth in this sector may threaten the livelihoods of livestock producers and harm rural communities.…”

Vegan food geographies and the rise of Big Veganism

“…This literature helps identify the ‘double-edged sword’ ( Smart, 2004 ) that characterises the ‘vegan-as-consumption’ trend ( White, 2018 ) as one commonly experienced when alternative food networks encounter the market-based, individualistic paradigm of the mainstream ( Goodman et al, 2012 ). Food scholars have begun to highlight the need for greater consideration of these tensions, specifically concerning the potential impacts of transitioning to plant-based operations at the farm and processing levels ( Burton, 2019 ; Lonkila and Kaljonen, 2021 ; Tziva et al, 2020 ), and via different production methods ( Green and Foster, 2005 ). We see considerable scope for extending the analytical foundations offered by vegan studies through further engagement with work in food geographies, building on recent interdisciplinary ( Morris et al, 2021 ) and vegan geographies ( Hodge et al, forthcoming ) research programmes to explore transitions beyond animal-based food systems.…”

A review of megatrends in the global dairy sector: what are the socioecological implications?

“…Our search highlighted academic literature that came predominantly from the fields of dairy science, food innovation and social science scholarship. We initially identified academic reviews of the dairy sector, such as those published within the Journal of Dairy Science (see Beaver et al 2020;Schuster et al 2020;Britt et al 2018;Pulina et al 2018;McCarthy et al 2017) and other key review papers across different environmental, social and nutritional journals about dairy production and consumption (see Gauly et al 2013;Aschemann-Witzel et al 2020;Fiel et al 2020;Roy et al 2020;Stephens 2020;Hjalsted et al 2020;Lonkila and Kaljonen 2021;Cogato et al 2021;Wankar et al 2021). We narrowed in on the reviews that we felt had particular relevance to our socioecological framing.…”