Are UK Consumers Ready For Cell-based Meat?

We've been experiencing a massive shift in consumers trends. From veganism, plant-based diets, meatless meat, animal-free products have become increasingly popular in the last few years. Science and technology have stepped up in recent times to provide us with different alternatives.

The real meat revolution is getting closer every day. There are dozens of companies around the world making meat without harming the animals. No-kill cultured meat, cell-based, also called lab meat or clean meat, is grown from animal cells in special incubators. The companies collect the cells in an ethical way which means the meat later grown is actually cruelty-free and vegan, even though most of the vegans wouldn't consume it. For instance, American company Eat Just waited for the chicken to drop a feather to collect its cells.

The interest in cell-based meat has increased because of the climate crisis when global society looks for ways to produce food for 7 billion people in a sustainable and more ethical way.
Cell-based businesses attracted huge investments, and they are working hard on making their technology more efficient and cheaper. It will still take a few years before these cell-based products hit the shelves of supermarkets, but it's really just a matter of time.

So far, only one company in the world has received regulatory approval for its lab-grown 'chicken'. Just Eat cultured meat can be legally sold in Asia. The world's first cultured chicken made its historic debut at restaurant 1880 in Singapore earlier this year.

Piplsay tried to find out if the customers attitude regarding the meat revolution and the cell-based meat trend. The website Piplsay conducted a survey on 31,340 Americans and 9,166 Britons aged 18 years and older to get some insights. Here is a summary of what they found about the Brits.

Forty-two per cent of Brits heard about it cell-based meat, and 18 per cent are willing to try it. Forty per cent of respondents said they haven't heard about it yet.
It appears that most people would eat lab-grown meat to help the animals.
When asked about which of the benefits of cell-based meat appeals to them the most, 33 per cent of respondents said it eliminates the need to harm animals, per cent said
it lowers the emissions by reducing demand for livestock; 14 per cent think it's healthier and safer than real meat.

Only 9 per cent of meat eaters said they would prefer cell-based meat in the long run, while 79 per cent said they would still prefer real meat, and 12 per cent answered they would prefer fake meat.

At least half of the UK consumers are aware of climate emergencies and try to change their diet to help the planet.
When asked if they are worried about the environmental impact of meat production, nearly half of respondents (46%) said ‘Yes, a little’, 31% said ‘No’, and 23% said 'Yes, a lot.'
Answering the question how the environmental situation impacted their preferences, 71 per cent said they eat less meat now, 17 per cent said they consume less meat, but they prefer fake meat, 12% said they turned vegan or vegetarian.