A comparison of cell-based and cell-cultured as appropriate common or usual names to label products made from the cells of fish

Abstract

Using an online experiment with a nationally representative sample of 1200 adult American consumers, two "common or usual names," "Cell-Based Seafood" and "Cell-Cultured Seafood," were assessed using five criteria. Displayed on packages of frozen Atlantic Salmon, both "Cell-Based" (60.1%) and "Cell-Cultured" (58.9%) enabled participants to differentiate the novel products from "Farm-Raised" and "Wild-Caught" fish and 74% also recognized that those allergic to fish should not consume the product. Thus, both names met key regulatory criteria. Both names were seen as appropriate terms for describing the process for creating the product, meeting the criteria for transparency. There were no significant differences in the perceived safety, naturalness, taste, or nutritiousness of the products bearing the two names. However, participants' overall impressions associated with "Cell-Based" were rated as more positive than those associated with "Cell-Cultured" (P < 0.001, η² = 0.010), as were their initial thoughts, images, and feelings (P < 0.001, η² = 0.008). The participants were also slightly more interested in tasting (P < 0.05, η² = 0.004) and in purchasing (P < 0.01, η² = 0.006) "Cell-Based" than "Cell-Cultured" seafood. After learning the meaning of the terms, participants' overall impressions of "Cell-Based" remained higher than "Cell-Cultured" (P < 0.05, η² = 0.003) and they remained slightly more interested in tasting (P < 0.05, η² = 0.004) and in purchasing (P < 0.05, η² = 0.005) "Cell-Based" than "Cell-Cultured" seafood. Therefore, "Cell-Based Seafood" should be adopted as the best common or usual name for seafood made from the cells of fish. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Widespread adoption and consistent use of a single "common or usual name" for "Cell-Based" seafood, meat, poultry, and other products by the food industry, regulators, journalists, marketers, environmental, consumer, and animal rights advocates, and other key stakeholders would help shape public perceptions and understanding of this rapidly advancing technology and its products. This study confirms that "Cell-Based Seafood" is the best performing term to label seafood products made from the cells of fish. It meets relevant FDA regulatory requirements and slightly outperforms "Cell-Cultured Seafood" with regard to positive consumer perceptions, interest in tasting, and likelihood of purchasing these novel products.