Emerging technologies in food. Perspectives on In Vitro Meat

In Vitro Meat (IVM) is meat grown in a laboratory by means of cultivating stem cells with tissue engineering. In 2013, a hamburger made with this novel food technology was eaten on television and attracted a lot of additional... [ view full abstract ]

In Vitro Meat (IVM) is meat grown in a laboratory by means of cultivating stem cells with tissue engineering. In 2013, a hamburger made with this novel food technology was eaten on television and attracted a lot of additional media attention. IVM-researchers, amongst others, often claim to develop the technology in order to contribute to environmental, health and animal welfare aspects. Recently, some studies analysed societal and ethical aspects of this novel technology (e.g., Van der Weele, 2010; Welin & Van der Weele, 2012), however, only few studies have been done that include consumer or public attitudes including risk perceptions (e.g., Verbeke et al, 2014; Marcu et al, 2014) and no overview exists of factors contributing to attitudes towards IVM. In our exploratory study, we analysed (risk) perspectives on IVM from both experts and non-experts as well as factors contributing to these perspectives. Interviews (n=9) were conducted with stakeholders from various backgrounds but holding expertise knowledge about food or IVM in particular. In addition, four focus groups were organised with various non-experts (vegetarians/vegans, biomedical engineering students and two groups of citizens). Preliminary findings show that experts and non-experts hold a variety of attitudes. Stakeholders, often in favour of the technology, differ in their analysis of factors, e.g. risks and benefits, playing a role when developing such a new food technology. As expected, the four focus groups differed not only in their attitudes but also mentioned a rich variety of aspects playing a role in attitudes towards novel food technologies such as IVM. Results can contribute to more understanding of novel food technologies.