Consumer expectations regarding the labelling of products containing cultured meat

Oczekiwania konsumentów wobec etykietowania produktów zawierających mięso in vitro

Food labels are an important factor in determining purchases. The aim of the study was to discover consumer expectations regarding the labelling of products containing cultured meat. A comparative analysis was conducted on 1,286 consumers, taking food technology neophobia, customer innovativeness and health consciousness into account. The analysis is based on a series of Repeated Measures ANOVAs, which has made it possible to identify individual differences among consumers. We found a significant variation in terms of a level with which consumers formulate their judgment concerning the information that should appear on the packaging. We identified three groups of variables with different levels of expectation, where in-vitro is not the leading one. The results indicate that the placement of information about cultured meat on food labels may have a negative stigmatizing effect.

Etykiety żywnościowe są ważnym czynnikiem determinującym zakupy. Celem badania było poznanie oczekiwań konsumentów w zakresie etykietowania produktów zawierających mięso in vitro. Analizie porównawczej poddano 1286 konsumentów, biorąc pod uwagę neofobię technologii żywności, innowacyjność konsumentów oraz ich świadomość zdrowotną. Analiza opiera się na serii ANOVA z powtarzanymi pomiarami, co pozwoliło zidentyfikować indywidualne różnice między konsumentami. Stwierdziliśmy istotne zróżnicowanie poziomu, na jakim konsumenci formułują swoje opinie na temat informacji, które powinny znaleźć się na opakowaniach. Zidentyfikowaliśmy trzy grupy zmiennych o różnych poziomach oczekiwań względem nich, przy czym in vitro okazało się nie być zmienną wiodącą. Wyniki wskazują, że umieszczanie na etykietach żywności informacji o mięsie in vitro może mieć negatywny efekt stygmatyzujący.

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