Fake meat a ‘betrayal’ of national identity for Gen Z Aussies
Younger Aussies feel they’d be betraying their national identity by eating fake meat, new research has revealed. Tell us what you think.
YOUNG Australians are not keen on eating fake meat and many view it with “disgust”, the first major study on the topic has shown.
In fact, many of the Generation Z respondents to the University of Sydney and Curtin University study, released today, said they were proud of Australian meat production and eating cultured meats would be a “betrayal” to their national identity.
This is according to researcher Dr Diana Bogueva, the University’s Centre for Advanced Food Enginomics manager.
“Gen Z want their food to be as natural as possible,” she said.
“I think Australia’s Gen Z will continue to eat meat and they were pretty articulate that they like how Australian meat is produced.”
However, the study, which examined the perceptions of 227 people aged 18 to 25 years old living in Sydney, found there was “great concern for the environment and animal welfare” impacts of livestock production.
Dr Bogueva said 72 per cent of Gen Z were not ready to accept cultured meat. This was defined in the survey as a lab-grown meat alternative produced by in-vitro cell cultures of animal cells.
“Our research has found that Generation Z — those aged between 18 and 25 — are concerned about the environment and animal welfare, yet most are not ready to accept cultured meat and view it with disgust,” she said.
The take-home message from the research for farmers, looking ahead to the next five to 15 years was “whatever you produce it needs to have emotional and intellectual appeal to Gen Z and environmentally-orientated”.
“It needs to be produced in an ethical way; animal welfare and dignity.
“And plant-based products need to be transparent and have less than five ingredients if they are to be an option and acceptable.”
Dr Bogueva said 59 per cent of the study participants were concerned about the environmental impact of traditional livestock farming but many were not clear on what those impacts were.
She said if cultured meat was to “replace livestock-based proteins, it would have to emotionally and intellectually appeal to the Gen Z consumers”.
Gen Z consumers wanted to know more about what the chemical procedures were that produced cultured meat and what its environmental footprint was, she said.
Dr Bogueva said it was more likely that young people would moderate their meat intake and increase the amount of fruit and vegetables in their diet, than replace meat with cultured alternatives.
The study also found young people were concerned about the taste of cultured meat, its health and safety attributes and they were unsure about whether it was “more sustainable” than meat production.
Dr Bogueva said meat eating was also closely tied to Australian cultural identity.
Some respondents also viewed cultured meat as “a conspiracy orchestrated by the rich and powerful and were determined not to be convinced to consume it”, she said.
“Generation Z are also unsure whether cultured meat is actually more environmentally sustainable, described by several respondents as potentially “resource consuming” and not being “environmentally friendly”,” Dr Bogueva said.
The study found Gen Z’s five main attitudes to fake meat were:
17 PER cent of respondents rejected all alternatives, including cultured meat, seeing it as chemically produced and heavily processed.
11 PER cent rejected all alternatives in favour of increased consumption of fruit and vegetables, saying they will stick with a vegetarian diet.
35 PER cent rejected cultured meat and edible insects but accepted plant-based alternatives because they “sounded more natural” and are “normal”; and
28 PER cent believed cultured meat was acceptable or possibly acceptable if the technology could be mastered.
A fifth group (9 per cent) accepted edible insects but rejected cultured meat as it was too artificial and not natural like insects.
Dr Bogueva said the findings would help inform future research and give insights into what Gen Z’s buying power would ask of food producers.
“These people we surveyed are going to be the future leaders, they are now 20 per cent of the Australian population and are a big cohort so we need to understand and pay attention to them.”
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