One in Three Consumers is Willing to Eat Clean Meat
New survey shows that 60 percent of vegan respondents are open to consuming slaughter-free meat.
March 4, 2018
A survey conducted by online data specialist Surveygoo found that one in three consumers across the United Kingdom and United States is willing to consume “cultured meat”—also known as “clean meat.” The survey—commissioned by public relations company Ingredient Communications—primed 1,000 respondents with the information that cultured meat is made from real meat cells, but grown in a laboratory setting, and asked if they would be willing to buy this type of meat from restaurants or stores. Out of the total of respondents, 29 percent indicated they would consume cultured meat, 38 percent said they would not, and 33 percent were undecided. The survey divided respondents based on dietary choices and found that 60 percent of vegans, 28 percent of meat-eaters (the largest segment of the study), 23 percent vegetarians, and 21 percent of pescatarians would eat cultured meat. Vegans in the US were more positive to the idea of this type of meat, with 63.6 willing to give it a try, as opposed to 50 percent of vegans in the UK. Bruce Friedrich, executive director of food advocacy group Good Food Institute, believes the results—while possibly skewed by language used in the poll—illuminate the fact that people are interested in an ethical solution to animal agriculture. “For many of us, it is the consequences of meat we dislike—such as animal suffering and environmental degradation—not the taste of meat,” Friedrich told VegNews, “so it isn’t surprising many vegans would be willing to try clean meat—all the taste and none of the suffering.” Friedrich explained that the survey results are encouraging to companies such as JUST (formerly Hampton Creek), Memphis Meats, Mosa Meat, and SuperMeat, which are working to debut consumer-ready meat products made without animal slaughter. “If clean meat was chosen by only the hard ‘yes’ people in the US, that would be an entirely new $70 billion market,” Friedrich said. “When people have a clean alternative, everyone will be able to consider all the downsides of conventional meat production. Once that happens, factory-farmed meat will seem scary and gross.”
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