Same strategies - different categories: An explorative card-sort study of plant-based proteins comparing omnivores, flexitarians, vegetarians and vegans.

Replacing animal-derived proteins with plant-based proteins has environmental and health benefits. Despite increasing consumer acceptance of plant-based proteins, most individuals do not frequently consume them. Understanding how different consumer groups perceive and categorise plant-based proteins in comparison to animal-derived proteins can support the protein transition, as it might provide insights into both consumer acceptance and how to position plant-based proteins. Based on categorisation theory, we investigated how different consumers - omnivores, flexitarians, vegetarians and vegans - categorise various sources of proteins and to what extent they use taxonomic, goal-derived or cross-categorisation approaches. 121 Dutch participants free-sorted 80 product cards (30 plant-based proteins, 20 animal-derived proteins, 5 hybrids (animal-plant) and 25 non-protein products). Forty participants elaborated on their categorisations in follow-up interviews. Our findings show that similar strategies can result in different categories depending on consumer group. Taxonomic categorisation strategies are dominantly applied by all consumer groups, but specific categories differ. With decreasing animal protein consumption, omnivores, flexitarians, vegetarians and vegans become increasingly strict in their categorisations. Omnivores do not separate proteins as strictly as flexitarians, vegetarians and vegans. All groups separate animal-derived meat from plant-based meat alternatives, but hybrid meat is ambiguous for omnivores and flexitarians. Variations in categorisations of plant-based proteins between groups give directions to marketers on how to tailor positioning of these products in a way that consumers identify and adopt plant-based proteins, to guide and accelerate the protein transition.

All insects are equal, but some insects are more equal than others.

PURPOSE: Lack of acceptance of insects as food is considered a barrier against societal adoption of the potentially valuable contribution of insects to human foods. An underlying barrier may be that insects are lumped together as one group, while consumers typically try specific insects. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in which Dutch consumers, with and without insect tasting experience, are more or less willing to eat different insects. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: In a quasi-experimental study (n=140), the participants with and without prior experience in eating insects were asked to give their willingness to eat a range of insects, and their attitudes and disgust towards eating insects. FINDINGS: Insects promoted in the market were more preferred than the less marketed insects, and a subgroup of preferred insects for participants with experience in eating insects was formed. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Although well-known insects were more preferred, general willingness to eat remained low for all participants. The results indicate that in future research on insects as food the specific insects used should be taken into account. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Continued promotion of specific, carefully targeted, insects may not lead to short-term uptake of insects as food, but may contribute to willingness to eat insects as human food in the long term. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The paper shows substantial differences between consumers who have and who have not previously tasted insects, with higher acceptance of people with experience in tasting insects for the specific insects that are frequently promoted beyond their generally more positive attitude towards eating insects.

Meet meat: An explorative study on meat and cultured meat as seen by Chinese, Ethiopians and Dutch.

In this cross-cultural study we investigated how study participants from China, Ethiopia and the Netherlands operationalize the concept of meat and to what extent cultured meat fits or does not fit into this operationalization. We argue that combining the conceptual approaches symbolic boundaries and theory of social practices helps to better understand the possibly culturally dependent operationalization of the concept meat. Ten visiting graduate students from China, 10 from Ethiopia and 10 native Dutch graduate students completed freelist tasks, a pile sort task, interview and essay task, during a single session. We found that butchered animals are at the center of the concept of meat, although depending on culture not all animals are a source of meat. Symbolic boundaries were restricted or stretched depending on social practices within countries. Ethiopian participants applied strictly defined symbolic boundaries, where Chinese and Dutch participants used more broadly defined symbolic boundaries. Cultured meat was seen as a technology for the future and was positioned across the symbolic boundaries of meat.

Explicit and implicit attitude toward an emerging food technology: The case of cultured meat.

Cultured meat is an unfamiliar emerging food technology that could provide a near endless supply of high quality protein with a relatively small ecological footprint. To understand consumer acceptance of cultured meat, this study investigated the influence of information provision on the explicit and implicit attitude toward cultured meat. Three experiments were conducted using a Solomon four-group design to rule out pretest sensitization effects. The first experiment (N = 190) showed that positive or negative information about cultured meat changed the explicit attitude in the direction of the information. This effect was smaller for participants who were more familiar with cultured meat. In the second experiment (N = 194) positive information was provided about solar panels, an attitude object belonging to the same sustainable product category as sustainable food products such as cultured meat. Positive information about solar panels was found to change the explicit attitude in the direction of the information. Using mood induction, the third experiment (N = 192) ruled out the alternative explanation that explicit attitude change in experiment 1 and 2 was caused by content free affect rather than category based inferences. The implicit attitude appeared insensitive to both information or mood state in all three experiments. These findings show that the explicit attitude toward cultured meat can be influenced by information about the sustainability of cultured meat and information about a positively perceived sustainable product. This effect was shown to be content based rather than merely affect based. Content based information in a relevant context could therefore contribute to the commercial success of cultured meat.

Willingness to pay for personalised nutrition across Europe.

BACKGROUND: Personalised nutrition (PN) may promote public health. PN involves dietary advice based on individual characteristics of end users and can for example be based on lifestyle, blood and/or DNA profiling. Currently, PN is not refunded by most health insurance or health care plans. Improved public health is contingent on individual consumers being willing to pay for the service. METHODS: A survey with a representative sample from the general population was conducted in eight European countries (N = 8233). Participants reported their willingness to pay (WTP) for PN based on lifestyle information, lifestyle and blood information, and lifestyle and DNA information. WTP was elicited by contingent valuation with the price of a standard, non-PN advice used as reference. RESULTS: About 30% of participants reported being willing to pay more for PN than for non-PN advice. They were on average prepared to pay about 150% of the reference price of a standard, non-personalised advice, with some differences related to socio-demographic factors. CONCLUSION: There is a potential market for PN compared to non-PN advice, particularly among men on higher incomes. These findings raise questions to what extent personalized nutrition can be left to the market or should be incorporated into public health programs.

The perceived impact of the National Health Service on personalised nutrition service delivery among the UK public.

Personalised nutrition (PN) has the potential to reduce disease risk and optimise health and performance. Although previous research has shown good acceptance of the concept of PN in the UK, preferences regarding the delivery of a PN service (e.g. online v. face-to-face) are not fully understood. It is anticipated that the presence of a free at point of delivery healthcare system, the National Health Service (NHS), in the UK may have an impact on end-user preferences for deliverances. To determine this, supplementary analysis of qualitative data obtained from focus group discussions on PN service delivery, collected as part of the Food4Me project in the UK and Ireland, was undertaken. Irish data provided comparative analysis of a healthcare system that is not provided free of charge at the point of delivery to the entire population. Analyses were conducted using the 'framework approach' described by Rabiee (Focus-group interview and data analysis. Proc Nutr Soc 63, 655-660). There was a preference for services to be led by the government and delivered face-to-face, which was perceived to increase trust and transparency, and add value. Both countries associated paying for nutritional advice with increased commitment and motivation to follow guidelines. Contrary to Ireland, however, and despite the perceived benefit of paying, UK discussants still expected PN services to be delivered free of charge by the NHS. Consideration of this unique challenge of free healthcare that is embedded in the NHS culture will be crucial when introducing PN to the UK.

Factors influencing European consumer uptake of personalised nutrition. Results of a qualitative analysis.

The aim of this research was to explore consumer perceptions of personalised nutrition and to compare these across three different levels of "medicalization": lifestyle assessment (no blood sampling); phenotypic assessment (blood sampling); genomic assessment (blood and buccal sampling). The protocol was developed from two pilot focus groups conducted in the UK. Two focus groups (one comprising only "older" individuals between 30 and 60 years old, the other of adults 18-65 yrs of age) were run in the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Germany (N=16). The analysis (guided using grounded theory) suggested that personalised nutrition was perceived in terms of benefit to health and fitness and that convenience was an important driver of uptake. Negative attitudes were associated with internet delivery but not with personalised nutrition per se. Barriers to uptake were linked to broader technological issues associated with data protection, trust in regulator and service providers. Services that required a fee were expected to be of better quality and more secure. An efficacious, transparent and trustworthy regulatory framework for personalised nutrition is required to alleviate consumer concern. In addition, developing trust in service providers is important if such services to be successful.

Attitudes and attitudinal ambivalence change towards nanotechnology applied to food production.

The strategic development of novel nanotechnologies will be determined by their public acceptance, which in turn may be influenced by public perceptions of the risks and benefits associated with the specific applications. At the present time, public opinions towards nanotechnologies remain largely inchoate, although this is likely to change with increasing public exposure to relevant information. In two experiments, a total of 618 participants, from the UK population, were provided with different risk-benefit information on nanotechnology application in food. The results show that the provision of both risk and benefit information does not influence average attitude, but results in some individuals becoming more positive and less ambivalent and others more negative and less ambivalent towards nanotechnologies. A third group maintained a neutral attitude and became more ambivalent. It is concluded that to understand public opinion formation about nanotechnology keeping track of polarization and ambivalence is important.

Breeding by intervening: Exploring the role of associations and deliberation in consumer acceptance of different breeding techniques.

New plant breeding techniques may play an important role in improving food quality, global food security and sustainability. Previous breeding techniques have, however, met with substantial resistance from society. This study examined the role of associations and deliberation in the evaluation of breeding techniques. Breeding techniques studied included conventional breeding, gene-editing, genetic modification (cisgenesis and transgenesis), marker-assisted breeding and synthetic biology. By using focus group discussions that included individual tasks, we found that when participants relied on their spontaneous associations, gene-editing was evaluated similarly as genetic modification. However, after information provision and group discussion, gene-editing was preferred over genetic modification. Perceived naturalness was found to be the main reason for obtaining different levels of acceptance, not only between gene-editing and genetic modification but across all breeding techniques examined. These findings highlight the importance of associations and show that beliefs about naturalness remain crucial in understanding how consumers evaluate breeding techniques.

Potential Protein Production from Lignocellulosic Materials Using Edible Mushroom Forming Fungi.

There is a need for new protein sources to feed the world in a sustainable way. Converting non-food-grade "woody" side streams into food containing proteins will contribute to this mission. Mushroom forming fungi are unique in their capability to convert lignocellulosic substances into edible biomass containing protein. Especially if substrate mycelium can be used instead of mushrooms, this technology could be a serious contribution to addressing the protein challenge. In this Perspective, we discuss challenges toward production, purification, and market introduction of mushroom mycelium based foods.

Socio-psychological determinants of public acceptance of technologies: A review.

Historically, many technologies have been associated with societal controversies, leading to public rejection of their use. It is therefore important to understand the psychological determinants of societal acceptance of emerging technologies. Socio-psychological determinants of public acceptance of 10 (controversial) technologies are reviewed. The results indicate that there has been an increased interest in and focus on public acceptance of technologies in academia. Risk, trust, perceived benefit, knowledge, individual differences and attitude were found to have been a focus of research in 60% of articles. The results of correspondence analysis suggest that some determinants have been used more extensively in association with some technologies compared to others. As the published research has predominantly been conducted in North America and Europe, research across different cultural contexts internationally is required if globally relevant conclusions are to be reached. Implications for future research are discussed.

Paradoxical consumers in four European countries: Meat-eating justification and willingness to pay for meat from animals treated by alternatives to surgical castration.

To prevent boar taint, male piglets are commonly castrated without pain relief, causing them tremendous pain. There are, however, three alternatives, all of which have pros and cons: (1) surgical castration (SC) with pain relief, which removes boar taint but involves extra work for farmers and veterinarians; (2) raising non-castrated or entire male pigs (EM) in combination with a boar-taint detection method; and (3) immuno-castration (IC) by vaccination, which can lower the risk of boar taint acquired from GnRH pulses, but there are concerns about consumer response. The successful marketing of products from animals treated by alternatives to conventional castration depends on consumer acceptance. The current study (involving 3574 participants from Belgium, France, Spain, and Poland) aims to determine whether consumers' willingness to pay for meat from animals treated by alternatives depends on their attitude towards pork, attitude towards local ways of farming, and knowledge of animal welfare. We interpret these in the context of a meat-related moral dilemma and further investigate whether consumers resolve the moral dilemma by applying meat-eating-justification (i.e., apologetic or unapologetic) strategies. The results show that participants are least willing to pay for pork from castrates without pain relief. Willingness to pay for IC pork scores highest, followed by EM. Some consumer groups used an apologetic strategy to reduce the dissonance between moral dilemma and willingness to pay for meat from SC castrates. For the European market, it appears therefore feasible to market pork produced using IC or EM methods.

Perceptions of health risks and benefits associated with fish consumption among Russian consumers.

Knowledge about differences in consumer perceptions of health risks and benefits related to fish consumption is important for the development of targeted health interventions associated with dietary choice. The purpose of this study is to identify individual differences in Russian consumers according to their perceptions of health risks and benefits associated with fish consumption. By application of a cluster analysis on perceptions of personal risks and benefits associated with the consumption of fish, four groups of Russian consumers were classified as: very positive; positive; moderately positive; and 'high risk-high benefit' about the healthiness of fish consumption. Differences in perceptions of personal risks and benefits across consumers were related to self-reported fish consumption, optimism about personal risks and benefits, and optimism about personal knowledge about risks and benefits. Implications for the development of targeted health interventions to influence perceptions of risks and benefits associated with fish consumption, and ultimately fish consumption, are discussed. It is concluded that optimism regarding perceptions and knowledge of health risks, and health benefits should be taken into account when developing interventions aimed at consumer health.

Consumer responses to integrated risk-benefit information associated with the consumption of food.

The risk analysis of the health impact of foods is increasingly focused on integrated risk-benefit assessment, which will also need to be communicated to consumers. It therefore becomes important to understand how consumers respond to integrated risk-benefit information. Quality-adjusted-life-years (QALYs) is one measure that can be used to assess the balance between risks and benefits associated with a particular food. The effectiveness of QALYs for communicating both positive and negative health effects associated with food consumption to consumers was examined, using a 3 × 2 experiment varying information about health changes in terms of QALYs associated with the consumption of fish (n = 325). The effect of this information on consumer perceptions of the usefulness of QALYs for describing health effects, on risk and benefit perceptions, attitudes, and intentions to consume fish was examined. Results demonstrated that consumers perceived QALYs as useful for communicating health effects associated with food consumption. QALYs communicated as a net effect were preferred for food products associated with negative net effects on health, while separate communication of both risks and benefits may be preferred for food products associated with positive or zero net health effects. Information about health changes in terms of QALYs facilitated informed decision making by consumers, as indicated by the impact on risk and benefit perceptions as intended by the information. The impact of this information on actual food consumption choices merits further investigation.

Sex and age differences in attitudes and intention to adopt personalised nutrition in a UK sample.

AIM: There has been an increase in the development of technologies that can deliver personalised dietary advice. Devising healthy, sustainable dietary plans will mean taking into consideration extrinsic factors such as individual social circumstances. The aim of this study was to identify societal groups more or less receptive to and likely to engage with personalised nutrition initiatives. SAMPLE AND METHODS: Volunteers were recruited via a social research agency from within the UK. The resultant sample (N = 1061) was 49% female, aged 18-65 years. RESULTS: MANOVA (Tukey HSD applied) indicated that females and younger people (aged 18-29 years) had more favourable attitudes and were more likely to intend to adopt personalised nutrition. There were no differences in attitude toward or intention to adopt personalised nutrition between different education levels, income brackets or occupational groups. CONCLUSION: These results imply that females and younger people may be most likely to adopt personalised nutrition in the future. Initiatives to promote healthy eating should target males and older people.

Short and Long-Term Innovations on Dietary Behavior Assessment and Coaching: Present Efforts and Vision of the Pride and Prejudice Consortium.

Overweight, obesity and cardiometabolic diseases are major global health concerns. Lifestyle factors, including diet, have been acknowledged to play a key role in the solution of these health risks. However, as shown by numerous studies, and in clinical practice, it is extremely challenging to quantify dietary behaviors as well as influencing them via dietary interventions. As shown by the limited success of 'one-size-fits-all' nutritional campaigns catered to an entire population or subpopulation, the need for more personalized coaching approaches is evident. New technology-based innovations provide opportunities to further improve the accuracy of dietary assessment and develop approaches to coach individuals towards healthier dietary behaviors. Pride & Prejudice (P&P) is a unique multi-disciplinary consortium consisting of researchers in life, nutrition, ICT, design, behavioral and social sciences from all four Dutch Universities of Technology. P&P focuses on the development and integration of innovative technological techniques such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, conversational agents, behavior change theory and personalized coaching to improve current practices and establish lasting dietary behavior change.

Risk and benefit perceptions of mobile phone and base station technology in Bangladesh.

Research in developed countries showed that many citizens perceive that radio signals transmitted by mobile phones and base stations represent potential health risks. Less research has been conducted in developing countries focused on citizen perceptions of risks and benefits, despite the recent and rapid introduction of mobile communication technologies. This study aims to identify factors that are influential in determining the tradeoffs that Bangladeshi citizens make between risks and benefits in terms of mobile phone technology acceptance and health concerns associated with the technology. Bangladesh was selected as representative of many developing countries inasmuch as terrestrial telephone infrastructure is insubstantial, and mobile phone use has expanded rapidly over the last decade, even among the poor. Issues of importance were identified in a small-scale qualitative study among Bangladeshi citizens (n = 13), followed by a survey within a sample of Bangladeshi citizens (n = 500). The results demonstrate that, in general, the perceived benefits of mobile phone technology outweigh the risks. The perceived benefits are primarily related to the social and personal advantages of mobile phone use, including the ability to receive emergency news about floods, cyclones, and other natural disasters. Base stations were seen as a symbol of societal advance. The results furthermore suggest that overall risk perceptions are relatively low, in particular health risks, and are primarily driven by perceptions that related to crime and social inconvenience. Perceived health risks are relatively small. These findings show that risk communication and management may be particularly effective when contextual factors of the society where the system is implemented are taken into consideration.

Reliability of the Rasch Food Safety Practices scale.

A reduced version of the Rasch Food Safety Practices scale [Fischer, A. R. H., Frewer, L. J., & Nauta, M. J. (2006). Towards improving food safety in the domestic environment: a multi-item Rasch scale for the measurement of the safety efficacy of domestic food handling practices. Risk Analysis, 26(5), 1323-1338] was investigated to establish its reliability and robustness. A second set of survey data were collected using the reduced Rasch scale. We discuss the reliability and robustness of the original Rasch scale in terms of the second analysis. In general, the results of the reduced scale provided results that were very similar to those obtained in the original study. In both studies the goodness of fit of the different items was stable. The range of the difficulty parameters was smaller in this study than in the previous one, which may be attributed to methodological causes. The high level of similarity of the key parameters shows that the Rasch scale is reliable and robust.

Food safety in the domestic environment: the effect of consumer risk information on human disease risks.

The improvement of food safety in the domestic environment requires a transdisciplinary approach, involving interaction between both the social and natural sciences. This approach is applied in a study on risks associated with Campylobacter on broiler meat. First, some web-based information interventions were designed and tested on participant motivation and intentions to cook more safely. Based on these self-reported measures, the intervention supported by the emotion "disgust" was selected as the most promising information intervention. Its effect on microbial cross-contamination was tested by recruiting a set of participants who prepared a salad with chicken breast fillet carrying a known amount of tracer bacteria. The amount of tracer that could be recovered from the salad revealed the transfer and survival of Campylobacter and was used as a measure of hygiene. This was introduced into an existing risk model on Campylobacter in the Netherlands to assess the effect of the information intervention both at the level of exposure and the level of human disease risk. We showed that the information intervention supported by the emotion "disgust" alone had no measurable effect on the health risk. However, when a behavioral cue was embedded within the instruction for the salad preparation, the risk decreased sharply. It is shown that a transdisciplinary approach, involving research on risk perception, microbiology, and risk assessment, is successful in evaluating the efficacy of an information intervention in terms of human health risks. The approach offers a novel tool for science-based risk management in the area of food safety.

Changes in the influence of affect and cognition over time on consumer attitude formation toward nanotechnology: A longitudinal survey study.

Insights into how consumer attitudes toward nanotechnology are formed and develop are crucial for understanding and anticipating possible barriers in consumer acceptance of nanotechnology applications. In this study, the influence of affect and cognition on overall opinion is investigated longitudinally for emerging nanotechnologies, and compared with conventional technologies. Overall, in attitude formation toward nanotechnology applications, people rely relatively more on affect than cognition. Over time, reliance on affect decreases whereas reliance on cognition increases for nanotechnology. This suggests that over time nanotechnology applications have become somewhat more integrated within people's already existing knowledge structure. However, for conventional technologies the influence of affect and cognition on overall attitude remains stable over time. The current study shows that it is essential to address both affective and cognitive aspects of public opinion of nanotechnology.