First glimpse on attitudes of highly educated consumers towards cell-based meat and related issues in Brazil

PLoS One. 2019 Aug 30;14(8):e0221129. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0221129. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Our aim was to study Brazilian consumer attitudes towards cell-based meat and related issues. From 408 respondents from Curitiba and 218 from Joinville, the majority was women with higher level of education; 65.2% and 70.2% frequently consumed meat and 50.7% and 50.9% would not stop eating meat; 81.6% and 82.6% had little or no knowledge about cell-based meat. After watching an explanatory video, 41.9% and 34.4% stated they would eat cell-based meat without restrictions; 24.5% and 23.9% stated they would try depending on conditionals. Overall, 63.6% declared they would eat cell-based meat; among vegetarians and vegans, 24% and 8% stated they would eat cell-based meat, with additional 25.0% and 27.0% stating "it depends"; thus, the major public for cell-based meat seems to be meat eaters. Animal welfare was the principal reason for considering not eating meat and a major benefit of cell-based meat. In conclusion, the majority of respondents would not stop eating meat; additionally, they would eat cell-based meat.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Animal Welfare
  • Animals
  • Attitude
  • Brazil / epidemiology
  • Diet, Vegetarian / psychology*
  • Feeding Behavior / psychology*
  • Female
  • Food Preferences / psychology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Meat*
  • Middle Aged
  • Vegans / psychology
  • Vegetarians / psychology

Grants and funding

Grant number 025/2014, CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel), awarded to C.F.M.M. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.