Stated Preferences for Plant-Based and Cultured Meat: A Choice Experiment Study of Spanish Consumers

Abstract

Meat production and consumption have been claimed to have negative impacts on the environment, and even on the consumer’s health. In this sense, alternative sources of protein, mainly meat substitutes and cultured meat, have emerged due to those perceived negative effects. Our paper carries out a choice experiment to analyze the preferences of 444 Spanish consumers and their willingness to pay for plant-based and cultured meats, as compared to conventional meat. Spain was considered of interest for this study due to its significant gastronomic culture, with high-quality meat products that make a great contribution to the economy, meaning that this could be a suitable and also challenging market in which to test alternative sources of protein. The findings show that consumers’ motivations and their interactions with these products are complex. Additionally, a cluster analysis allowed us to identify three types of consumers in terms of preference for these products: price-sensitive millennials, conscious/concerned consumers, and indifferent consumers. Only one group showed some level of acceptance of these alternative products meats.

Adaption of the Meat Attachment Scale (MEAS) to Germany - Interplay with Food Neophobia, Preference for Organic Foods, Social Trust and Trust in Food Technology Innovations

“…Focusing on the meat alternatives, consumers have a significantly higher trust in plantbased foods compared to insect protein-based products and cultured meat. This trust ranking for alternative proteins is in line with the preference ranking found for these product types in literature [12,44]. From this, it can be concluded that trust in the analysed meat alternatives is a good predictor and antecedent for the final preference in the same products.…”

Does Carbon Footprint Play a Relevant Role in Food Consumer Behaviour? A Focus on Spanish Beef

“…Cheap talk was used to correct the hypothetical bias that can arise in this type of study. Thus, in line with previous research [ 13 ], a text explaining the hypothetical bias and its importance in the validity of the study was incorporated into the questionnaire, as shown in Table S1 in the electronic supplement. Finally, participants were asked to try to provide their unbiased answers to the CE, trying to actively put themselves in a real shopping situation.…”

“…This has driven the food industry to begin the development of new food products with additional benefits to consumer health [ 12 ]. Products such as “meat substitutes” (products made from alternative protein sources such as vegetables, algae, insects, and mycobacteria) and “cultured meat”, which attempt to offer alternatives to a number of consumer preferences [ 13 ], have recently entered the market. However, not all the consumers from western countries are willing to reduce their meat consumption [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”

Assessing Parental Preferences Regarding a Plant-Based Game for Educating Children about More Sustainable and Healthier Diets

“…A five-point Likert scale was used to investigate the level of agreement for each statement (1: strongly disagree; 2: disagree; 3: neutral; 4: agree; 5: strongly agree). Consumer preferences were elicited using a hypothetical discrete choice experiment approach (DCE), which is widely applied due to its ability to simulate real market situations and improve participant response rate [30].…”