Novel foods consumption: Chinese consumers’ perception, acceptance and influencing factors for purchase intentions

The rapid increase in China's meat consumption has produced various environmental, resource, health and animal welfare issues. Novel food such as plant-based meat (PBM) and cultured meat are viewed as meat substitutes to potentially mitigate these issues. PBM specifically is becoming increasingly available in the Chinese market, but little is known about Chinese consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions towards PBM. Hence, this paper investigates the perception and acceptance of PBM, as well as factors influencing purchase intentions. Data from 210 consumers were analysed. The results showed that Chinese consumers have a positive perception of PBM as being more environmentally friendly than animal meat. The majority of respondents neither support nor oppose the consumption of PBM as an alternative to traditional meat. The binary logistic regression results indicate that consumers' judgement of the price value of meat, eating history of PBM, and risk perceptions towards novel and new foods are significant factors influencing their consumption of PBM. Several strategies to promote the consumption of PBMs are also discussed.