Variability in consumer perception of meat and meat substitutes
Résumé
This study, conducted with more than 16,000 respondents in 5 countries (Brazil, Cameroon, China, France, South
Africa) was aimed at analysing the consumption of meat and meat substitutes according to sociodemographic factors.
For this, we asked for the criteria to choose food products at purchase time and for the proportion of people consuming
meat substitutes and willing to consume ‘cultured meat’. The most important criteria when purchasing food products
are the following: sensory quality (67%), price (56%), food safety (47%), origin/traceability (45%), ethics (42%),
nutritional value (35%), environmental impact (33%), and then appearance (24%) and presence of a label (22%). Men
place less importance on food safety (44 vs 50% for women, P<0.01). There is also an age effect (P<0.01), people
over 51 years of age putting less importance on price (40 vs 52-69% than younger respondents). Respondents who
rarely consume meat place price first, vegans/vegetarians place ethical and environmental concerns first, unlike meat
consumers who consider sensory quality to be the most important (P<0.01). These results also depend on countries
(P<0.01): sensory quality, food safety, origin/traceability and price are more important in Brazil, China, France and
then two African countries respectively. On average, 45% of respondents eat meat substitutes. This result depends on
gender (50% for women vs 39% for men), country (70% in China vs 29% in Brazil) and dietary habits, with flexitarians
and vegetarians being 59-60% to consume meat substitutes. Thirty nine percent of the respondents would be regularly
willing to eat cultured meat (43% of women and 36% of men; 46% among 18-30 year-old respondents vs 33-36%
for the oldest). This proportion is higher for flexitarians and vegetarians (47-49%). The French are the least ready to
consume ‘cultured meat’ (17%) vs 54% in Brazil. To conclude, perception of meat and meat substitutes depends on
sociodemographic factors, mainly countries and dietary habits.