Beyond one-size-fits-all: Consumers react differently to packaging colors and names of cultured meat in Italy.

Cultured meat, also known as "in-vitro meat," "clean meat," "synthetic meat," "lab-grown meat" and many other nomenclatures, represents one of the most recent controversial food technologies, even with its environmental benefits. Although the market success of cultured meat depends on consumers' acceptance, specific characteristics such as name and packaging color can influence consumers' perceptions and acceptance of the food product. This study assessed the impact of the name and packaging color of cultured meat on consumers' behavioral intentions toward its consumption in Italy. With the assumption that names and packaging colors affect consumers' acceptance differently, according to their characteristics and food neophobia, this study used a finite mixture model to analyze the stimulus impacts across different groups of consumers. The results showed that food neophobia plays a relevant role in individual response to name and packaging color of cultured meat. Less neophobic consumers are more likely to be positively affected in their intentions by green color packaging and nomenclatures that least emphasize the unnaturalness of the product, such as "clean meat," whereas neophobic consumers are more likely to be positively affected only by green color.

Only the best for my kids: An extended TPB model to understand mothers' use of food labels.

Despite the evidence that mothers' food purchasing behavior impacts the quality of children's diet, few studies have explored psycho-social factors influencing how mothers choose the food to buy for their children. To fill this gap, this study tested an extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model to predict mothers' tendency to seek information on food labels before purchasing food for children. Participants included 311 Italian mothers who completed a self-report questionnaire measuring their information-seeking behavior, TPB variables, anticipated regret and healthy-eater identity. Results from a Multiple Correspondence Analysis showed that mothers' information-seeking behavior involved a continuum of choices ranging from selecting conventional or prepackaged foods to choosing to read the food label before making a purchase. Besides, a Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling analysis showed that information-seeking behavior was positively predicted by intention (ß = 0.309, p < 0.001) and healthy-eater identity (ß = 0.195, p < 0.001). In turn, intention was positively affected by attitude (ß = 0.208, p < 0.001), subjective norms (ß = 0.155, p < 0.01), perceived behavioral control (ß = 0.124, p < 0.05), anticipated regret (ß = 0.193, p < 0.001), and healthy-eater identity (ß = 0.191, p < 0.001). These findings emphasize that future initiatives could usefully target attitude, anticipated regret and self-identity to encourage mothers' informed food choices for their children.

Puppy power: How neophobia, attitude towards sustainability, and animal empathy affect the demand for insect-based pet food.

Despite growing commercial interest in novel foods, there are few studies that analyse consumer willingness to purchase them as pet food. This study aimed to test whether consumers are willing to accept the use of foods with insect-based ingredients, which are found to be poorly accepted for human consumption, to feed their pets. In our case study, we analysed the willingness of 400 Italian dog and/or cat caregivers to pay for pet foods containing insect proteins, as measured by the Multiple Price List methodology. We also explored the role of food neophobia, attention to environmental sustainability, and empathy toward one's pet. The results of the study pointed out that the usual determinants of acceptance in the consumption of novel foods, such as food neophobia and attention to environmental sustainability, play an important role even when the purchase is for the household pet, and that empathy as an expression of the pet caregiver's personal relationship with their pet becomes an additional factor. Insect-based pet foods proved to be attractive for purchase only when consumers are well informed about the product's properties in terms of sustainability and healthiness for their pets.