Factors influencing consumer purchase intent for meat and meat substitutes

The availability of new plant-based burgers, designed to address the environmental, health, and ethical issues as-sociated with animal husbandry, represents a significant transition toward the alternative protein market. These meat substitutes aim at providing climate and health-conscious consumers with valuable options while maintain-ing the typical taste and feel of animal products. This study explores the appeal of alternative meat burgers as an option for reducing individual and collective meat consumption. We analyzed 169 U.S. burger consumers who tasted and reported their purchase intent for four types of burgers: a traditional beef burger, a mushroom/beef blended burger, a plant-based burger made with pea protein, and a plant-based burger made with animal-like protein (this refers to ImpossibleTM products that use a heme protein as an ingredient to closely replicate the mouthfeel and experience of eating a beef burger). We found that information about the product composition plays a critical role in predicting purchase intent. Moreover, product information increased purchase intent for all the burgers, except for the pea-protein one, and the provided information had the highest impact on the beef burger. Purchase intent could also be predicted by certain consumer socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, political affiliation, and income) as well as behavioral attitudes toward beef, blended, and plant-based products. Our results can help identify effective strategies in promoting meat alternatives, particularly in efforts to substitute traditional beef burgers with plant-based substitutes.