The high share of animal-based protein in our diets has negative effects on the environment and contributes to climate change. Substituting meat with plant-based analogs presents one measure to facilitate the transition to more plant-based diets. But despite increased availability of plant-based meat analogs, the consumption of meat has not decreased substantially.
In the present study, we investigated how important different aspects and attributes of meat analogs are to consumers as the identification of attributes with high importance could be used to increase attractivity of these products.
To achieve a realistic scenario where consumers have to make trade-offs between different attributes such as price, product type, main ingredient, quality-, and nutrition claims, we used a rating based conjoint task. Consumers from four European countries (Finland, Germany, Italy, and Serbia) completed an online questionnaire in which they were shown plant-based burgers and plant-based steaks with different front of package claims and were asked to indicate their willingness to purchase the products.
Results showed that neither nutrition-, nor quality claims influenced consumers' willingness to purchase meat analogs. A large part of participants seemed to be indifferent to any attribute and was not interested in buying meat analogs at all. However, also a substantial part of participants reacted positively to lower prices and products aiming to replace burgers, but not steaks.
We conclude that nutrition- and quality claims do not seem to change existing attitudes towards meat analogs. However, lower prices and products that replace processed meat show greater potential to appeal to consumers.