Alternative Protein Food: A Pan-European Study on Consumer Attitudes and Preferences

Because of climate change, more European people are switching to alternative protein foods (APF) to help the earth.

Different Views on Hybrid Products

Researchers from Germany, Denmark, Greece, Norway, and Italy, along with those from SWPS University, looked at how people in 18 European countries thought about APF. They found that people in each area liked and accepted it differently.

Many people favor hybrid products, a mix of traditional and alternative proteins, as better for health, ethics, the environment, and overall well-being than conventional meat products. The style is improving in the UK and Spain, but people in Denmark like it the most.

But having good feelings doesn't always mean you'll buy something. Studies examining how many APF goods people planned to buy found that the Danish didn't plan to buy many.

Polish Consumers Are Hesitant to Buy

Researchers have found that people from Poland and the Czech Republic are less knowledgeable about new foods and less willing to try them than people from Germany and Denmark. Hanna Zaleśkiewicz from the CARE-BEH Center for Applied Research on Health Behavior and Health at SWPS University says that the trends seen should be understood because people in Poland and other countries like them continue to eat a lot of meat.

Among German and Polish people aged 55 and up, those from Poland knew little about new food products, were slower to make decisions, and bought these goods less often. "Food innovators" and "early followers" (people who buy new foods soon after they come out or after giving them some thought) make up 73% of young people in Germany who buy comestibles.

However, only 24-36% of people in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia are willing to buy new APFs. This is because young people are less likely to want to buy it.

It's Hard to Sell Insect-Based APF, But in Cities, Seaweed-Based APF is Accepted

Insect-based APF is not popular among consumers. Only 18-22% of people in the UK and Spain say they would be willing to buy such goods. In Sweden and Finland, people are more optimistic about food from insects than those in Germany and the Czech Republic.

People in Northern or Western Europe, like Denmark or Belgium, are much more likely to choose insect-based APF than people in Italy. The researcher from SWPS University says that while eating habits and food culture in Northern Europe may have changed over the last few decades, Italy's meat culture is still one of the strongest in Europe.

In some places, people's attitudes toward APF are different. Consumers are more likely to accept APF in cities with many other racial and cultural groups than in towns with less diversity.

For instance, Paris uses more seaweed-based APF, possibly due to the large Asian population there.

The writers stress that their results can help people devise ways to give APF members more options. Because people in different countries know different amounts about APF, they need other ways to get the word out.

"To increase consumer motivation, promotional campaigns should highlight perceived health benefits, environmental benefits, and animal welfare-related motives," says Zaleśkiewicz.

This review gives us a first look at how European customers are different, which leads to the idea of custom messages to encourage APF intake. We need additional organized studies that compare countries to confirm these geographical differences and develop effective strategies to encourage people to use alternative proteins.