Cultured meat acceptance for global food security: a systematic literature review and future research directions

Cultured meat is a novel technology-based meat alternative with the potential to complement protein supply for a growing world population. An increasing body of consumer research has investigated personal factors explaining consumers’ acceptance of cultured meat. Research on cultural and economic drivers impacting consumer responses across countries, however, is scant. In this light, this article aims to provide a cross-cultural perspective on cultured meat acceptance and guide future empirical research in this domain. First, this article proposes a framework to explain cross-national differences in cultured meat acceptance comprising societal factors (i.e., culture and religion), indicators of the food environment (i.e., meat production and consumption), and economic market parameters (i.e., gross domestic product, carbon dioxide emissions, and population growth). Second, the paper applies a systematic literature review, including 105 empirical consumer studies related to cultured meat. Third, the identified papers are analyzed according to the proposed framework. The findings of this descriptive analysis demonstrate that empirical research to date has predominately been conducted in countries that produce and consume high amounts of meat and are characterized by high gross domestic products per capita. Many of these surveyed countries harbor secular-rational and self-expressional cultural value orientations. Other country types have been less prominently explored, although they represent potentially relevant target markets for cultured meat in the future. Cross-cultural research aiming to explain differences across countries is scarce. To guide future research, the paper develops research propositions relating societal factors, food environment, and market-related factors to consumer acceptance of cultured meat across countries.