Developing psychobiological approaches to predict the acceptance and rejection of cultivated meat

Secondary Supervisor(s): Dr Eirini Theodosiou

University of Registration: Aston University

BBSRC Research Themes: Integrated Understanding of Health (Diet and Health)

Project Outline

Providing sustainable protein, through culturing meat from stem cells using bioengineering, has enormous potential to solve significant problems with meat production and consumption, including nutrition related health challenges. At Aston University, we are developing cultivated meat with the potential to vary ingredients (e.g., to enhance the nutrition-profile of the product), based on consumer attitudes of the acceptability of cultivated meat products. However, a key question is whether we can rely on this data to be objective and accurate.

At present, predicting the acceptability of cultivated meat relies upon questionnaire-based surveys or focus groups. Typically, these question whether consumers are likely to buy or try cultivated meat, however, these responses are susceptible to a range of influences (e.g., people may suggest they are more open to trying new foods, such as cultivated meat, than they actually are, to create a more positive impression of themselves). This makes it difficult to predict whether cultivated meat products will actually be received well once they reach market.

One solution is to use biological or physiological measures, that are less susceptible to such confounding influences, to predict acceptance or rejection. For instance, measuring how much a person salivates in response to a food cue provides an objective biological predictor of how rewarding a food is (i.e., we salivate to a greater extent, when a food is more rewarding). Conversely, examining a person’s galvanic skin response (GSR) can indicate if they are experiencing disgust in response to a food cue (i.e., we show a greater GSR, in response to disgusting stimuli).

Thus, adopting a psychobiological approach to explore the likely acceptance or rejection of cultivated meat could provide objective and accurate data, and inform current production to maximise design and appeal. Moreover, this could provide a new model for predicting the acceptability of other new food products that could benefit nutrition and health.  

Objectives

This PhD, on the interface between psychobiology and engineering, will achieve the following:

1. Develop an understanding of the psychobiological predictors of the acceptance/rejection of cultivated meat (and other sustainable proteins).

2. Identify and test a strategy for enhancing the reward and minimising the disgust associated with cultivated meat (and other sustainable proteins).

3. Examine this strategy, and the use of these psychobiological predictors, across the full adult range of the lifespan.

Methods

Experimental laboratory-based studies will be used and present participants with food to consume. In the case of cultivated meat – which is not yet available in the UK – another form of protein will be provided, but presented as cultivated meat, so that participants think they are consuming it.

Study 1 will quantify how exposure to cultivated meat stimuli (and other forms of protein, both conventional and newly available – e.g., insect protein) affects biological responses indicative of reward/disgust (e.g., salivation/galvanic skin response), and how well these biological measures correspond to psychological measures (i.e., task/questionnaire-based) with a sample of healthy young adults.

Study 2 will explore different approaches to maximise reward and minimise disgust reactions, for instance, by manipulating information presented with the stimuli (e.g., providing positive information about the health consequences of consuming cultivated meat, or other types of protein) with a sample of healthy young adults.

Study 3 will seek to replicate the results of Study 2, but will recruit a larger sample stratified by age, to examine whether observed effects are symmetrical or differ across the lifespan (e.g., young adults vs. middle-aged adults vs. older adults).

Key Reference

Bryant, C., & Barnett, J. (2020). Consumer Acceptance of Cultured Meat: An Updated Review (2018–2020). Applied Sciences, 10, 5201.