Survey Reveals 61.95% Respondents Are Willing To Consume Cultured Meat

The U.S. Agricultural Department (USDA) has approved lab-grown chicken from two companies, ‘Upside Foods’ and ‘Good Meat’ to sell cell-cultivated chicken or cultured meat to U.S. consumers. This was done to meet global meat demand and reduce environmental damage without slaughter.

What is cultured meat?

Cultivated meat also known as cultured meat, is genuine animal meat or organ meat that is produced by cultivating animal cells in-vitro. Vitro is the methodology in biotechnology engineering where edible lab-grown meat or tissue is produced using tissue engineering techniques pioneered in regenerative medicine.

Real Research, an online survey app, launched a survey on “cultured meat”, meat grown in a lab from animal cells to assess public opinion.

Highlights:

• 61.95% of the respondents are willing to consume cultured meat
• 58.33% had “positive” opinions on cultured meat
• Chicken (20.15%) is the most commonly consumed meat

Public’s Meat Consumption Behaviour

“Cultured meat” is animal meat that is produced by cultivating animal cells in a laboratory and is different from plant-based meat, which is made with plant protein. Recently, the sale of “cultured meat” has been approved in the U.S. following approval in Singapore, Real Research asked the public if they were aware of this. 59.9% replied “Yes”, while 40.10% replied “No”.

A regulatory authority in the U.S. has approved the sale of cultured meat for the first time. In light of this news, the online survey app asked the public how often they consume meat. 43.37% responded that they consume meat once a week, 25.43% said twice a week, 14.96% responded with three times a week, 5.10% replied with four times a week, 3.36% chose the option “Others”, 3.04% said they consumed meat daily, 2.30% said five times a week, 1.53% said they do not consume meat at all, and 0.91% said six times a week.

Real Research asked respondents about the types of meat they consumed within the last month. In the order of the most commonly consumed to the most rarely consumed, such were the responses: Chicken (20.15%), Pork (18.73%), Beef (16.77%), Others (7.72%), Duck (7.28%), Buffalo (6.05%), Goat (6.03%), Camel (5.87%), Lamb (4.28%), Turkey (3.76%), and Rabbit (3.36%).

The survey further asked them, what was their favorite meat among what they’d eaten in the last month. In the order of the most favorite to the least favorite, such were the responses: Pork (18.84%), Chicken (15.46%), Beef (12.46%), Others (10.47%), Buffalo (9.38%), Camel (8.35%), Goat (6.77%), Duck (5.33%), Turkey (4.76%), Rabbit (4.21%), and Lamb (3.96%).

Read Also: Survey: Public Opinion on Processed Food vs Organic Food

Public’s Opinion on Cultured Meat

The survey also asked respondents what their opinion of cultured meat is. 58.33% responded with “Positive” while 41.67% replied with “Negative”.

Real Research followed up by asking, if positive, what is the reason they have such an opinion about cultured meat. 29.94% believed that cultured meat production required less power, farmland, and water, contributing to a greener environment, 23.63% opined that the reduced need for breeding and slaughtering can lower the unit price of the meat, 19.09% responded that animal welfare issues can be prevented, 15.38% said that livestock infection issues can be avoided, and 11.97% picked the option “Others”.

Read Also: Two in Three Consumers Would Buy Food Produced With Advanced Tech: Study

Furthermore, the survey asked the respondents, if negative, what is the reason they have such opinions about cultured meat. 39.55% said that in terms of stability, there is too much uncertainty with no clear regulations and guidelines for safety assessment, 23.28%.

opined that cultured meat is economically unviable as a great deal of time and investment is put into cell culture technology, leading to the high cost, 21.43% believed that cultured meat doesn’t taste the same as real meat, and 15.74% picked the option “Others”.

Public’s Willingness To Consume Cultured Meat

Real Research asked the public if they were willing to consume “cultured meat”. A whopping 61.95% said “Yes” while 38.05% said “No”.

Also Read: The Most Consumed Processed Foods Are Meat, Eggs, Fruits, and Seasoned Marine Products