A willingness to embrace cultured meat? Consumer acceptance is growing, flags new study

24 Apr 2020 --- Cell-cultured meat innovator Mosa Meat has conducted a study alongside Maastricht University, in the Netherlands, into the consumer acceptance of cultured meat, finding that some participants were willing to pay almost 40 percent more for cell-cultured meat than regular meat. Participants sampled animal-based meat believing it was “cultured,” indicating that having been informed on the environmental benefits of lab-grown meat, consumers were more encouraged to try it. Mosa Meat emphasizes how the COVID-19 pandemic could potentially shine a light on cultured meat, eliminating the need to use antibiotics in food production in the future.

“It is encouraging that all the participants were willing to try meat labeled as cultured, this is a step further than verbally accepting it,” Hannah Tait, Communications Assistant at Mosa Meat, tells FoodIngredientsFirst. 

She also flags the importance of cultured meat in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. “Cultured meat has the potential to have enormous positive impacts on food security, the environment, animal welfare and human health. Reducing the use of animals for our food supply is extremely important to ensure our own health in the future and reduce the likelihood of zoonotic diseases. In addition, cultured meat could eliminate the need to use antibiotics in food production, which is causing widespread antibiotic resistance,” she explains.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN estimates that the demand for meat will increase by 70 percent by 2050. “Current production methods alone will not be able to satisfy this demand. If we want there to be enough meat for everyone in the future, we need another way of producing it,” Tait continues. 

Furthermore, livestock meat production contributes significantly to global warming through unchecked releases of methane, lower greenhouse gas emissions and uses large amounts of land, leading to mass deforestation, she highlights. 

“Of course, cultured meat could also have an enormous impact in reducing the suffering of the billions of animals reared for food production each year, the majority in industrial farms where they experience inhumane conditions,” she adds. 

Study parameters
Published in peer-reviewed journal PLOS One, the study’s 193 test subjects were divided into three groups and presented with information on the quality and taste of cultured meat, as well as the social or personal benefits. According to Mosa Meat, “if people are properly informed they will choose to try cultured meat.” 

The subjects then completed a questionnaire and were offered two pieces of hamburger, one labeled “conventional” and the other labeled “cultured.” In reality, however, both were regular burgers. Not knowing that, each participant chose to taste the cultured meat hamburger. 

Interestingly, despite the absence of any objective difference, some participants rated the flavor of the “cultured” hamburger as better than that of the regular one. 

Fifty-eight percent of respondents said they would be prepared to pay a premium for cultured meat at an average of 37 percent on top of the price of ordinary meat.

A new acceptance?
“This study confirms that cultured meat is acceptable to consumers if sufficient information is provided and the benefits are clear,” explains Mosa Meat’s Chief Scientific Officer, Mark Post. “This has also led to increased acceptance in recent years. The study also shows that consumers will eat cultured meat if they are served it.” 

“We don't think consumers should be put off by eating cultured meat. It is the same as regular meat, just produced differently,” adds Tait. 

This study also shows the importance of reliable and accessible information for consumers, researcher Nathalie Rolland highlights. “Interestingly, all participants were willing to eat a piece of meat they believed to be cultured. That is a step further than just verbally accepting.”

The company will continue developing cultured meat and bring it to market in the coming years, she states. “We are currently working on scaling up production and automating the process. Construction for our pilot plant is currently underway and we have recently made some major scientific breakthroughs. We are also preparing to begin the regulatory process in Europe in the near future,” Tait concludes. 

By Elizabeth Green