Survey reveals 80% of UK adults are open to trying 'cultivated' meat

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13th May 2021 13:02 - Food

Survey reveals 80% of UK adults are open to trying 'cultivated' meat: A survey of people from the UK and the US has found high levels of openness to ‘cultivated’, lab-grown meat, with two fifths of UK respondents and the same percentage of US respondents (40%) saying they would be 'very likely' or 'extremely likely' to try it. The research also found a further 40% of respondents from each country would be ‘somewhat or moderately likely’ to try it.

The results of the survey which polled 4025 adults helped inform the report: US and UK Consumer Adoption of Cultivated Meat: A Segmentation Study, which was commissioned by Aleph Farms, a cultivated meat company, and then published in the journal, Foods.

Just 22% of the respondents polled in the UK said they were not at all likely to try cultivated meat, with 21% saying the same in the US.

The research found that younger people were more likely to try cultivated meat, with 88% of those polled in the Gen Z group revealing an openness to trying it, followed by 85% of Millennials. Just more than a quarter of respondents from Gen X (77%) said they would be open to lab-grown meat, while 72% of Baby Boomers said they would be at least somewhat to moderately open to trying it.

The survey also asked respondents about their preferred name for such a product, with 'cultured' and 'cultivated' seen as more desirable than 'cell-based' or 'cell-cultured' when it comes to talking socially about the product, or on food labels. Respondents were also found to prefer non-GM products over GM products.

When respondents were asked how likely they are to buy cultivated meat, 44% said they were 'somewhat likely' to purchase it, while around a quarter (26%) said they were 'very likely' to buy it. Looking at cost, more than half the UK adults polled said they were not likely to pay more than they do for their current meat (55%), with slightly fewer saying the same in the US (50%).

Lead researcher Keri Szejda, PhD, said of the findings: "The results suggest that cultivated meat is likely to be widely accepted by the general public, especially the younger generations and an eager group of early adopters who appreciate its benefits across a wide range of social issues."

*'Cultured' or 'Cultivated' meat is produced in a lab by cultivating animal cells directly, which offers an alternative to raising and farming animals for food.

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