According to a new study financed by the Ministry of Innovation, Universities, Science and Digital Science, a large majority of those in Spain would try lab-grown (cultivated) meat.
The study found that 63% in Spain are willing to or have already tried lab-grown meat, sometimes called cultivated meat. While 63% would try it, 46% said they’d be willing to actually buy it themselves. The three primary reasons behind participants willingness to try this new type of meat was due to animal welfare (63%), environmental concerns (50%), and curiosity (48%).
The study was conducted by the Spanish technological institute Ainia.
“The profile of the potential consumer of cultivated meat has healthy eating habits and belongs mostly to Generation Z,” said Ainia. The primary roadblocks for those considering purchasing cultivated meat are price (52%), lack of knowledge (45%), and distrust (44%), it adds.
The study found that 95% of consumers say they eat animal products in their regular diets to cover their protein needs; 23% consume vegetable protein, and 33% consume protein-enriched foods, reports Ainia. But 34% claim to have reduced animal protein over the past two years.
47% claim to have increased their consumption of protein-enriched foods; 53% consider that in the coming years, they will increase their consumption of vegetable protein. Still, 33% believe there is little supply of plant-based products compared to the 39% who consider the alternative offer to be sufficient.
According to a new GovGrant report released earlier this month, by 2040 well over half of all meat eaten and available for purchase will be plant-based or grown in the lab rather than factory farmed.
According to a 2021 Veggly poll, although around half of all vegans want to see further innovation in the cell-based meat category, slightly less than one in four (24%) say they would try lab-grown meat and still feel they’re following a strict vegan diet.
