Broad Garrett M, Zollman Thomas Oscar, Dillard Courtney, Bowman Daniel, Le Roy Brice
Department of Communication Studies, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, United States.
Formo, Berlin, Germany.
Front Nutr. 2022 Oct 3;9:997632. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.997632. eCollection 2022.
This paper reports on the findings from a series of virtual focus groups that explored consumer perceptions of animal-free dairy (AFD), an emerging type of animal product alternative produced using the tools of synthetic biology and precision fermentation. Focus group participants came from an international sample of potential "early adopters." To stimulate conversation, participants were presented with a series of visual "moodboards" that framed key arguments both in favor of and in opposition to AFD. Three primary thematic clusters emerged from the discussion. The first focused on issues of "process, safety, and regulation," centered on the general reaction of participants to the concept of AFD, their primary concerns, key questions, and the assurances they would need in order to support its advancement. The second focused on issues of "consumer preferences and priorities," highlighted by the often complicated, and sometimes outright contradictory, stated consumer interests of the participants. The third focused on issues of "food technology and the future," wherein participants expressed broader views on the role of food technology in society, generally speaking, and the potential futures of AFD, specifically. The general consensus among participants was a cautious openness to the idea of AFD. Outright opposition to the concept was rare, but so too was unabashed enthusiasm. Instead, respondents had a number of questions about the nature of the technological process, its overall safety and regulatory standards, its potential contributions to individual health and climate change mitigation, as well as its organoleptic qualities and price to consumers. Among the positive frames, claims about animal welfare were deemed the most pertinent and convincing. Among the negative frames, concerns about messing with nature and creating potential health risks to individuals were seen as the strongest arguments against AFD. The findings suggest that the key to AFD's future as a viable market option will depend in large part on the extent to which it can clearly demonstrate that it is preferable to conventional dairy or its plant-based competitors, particularly in the arena of taste, but also across considerations of health and safety, nutrition, environmental effects, and animal well-being.
本文报告了一系列虚拟焦点小组的研究结果，这些焦点小组探讨了消费者对无动物源乳制品（AFD）的看法。AFD是一种新兴的动物产品替代品，利用合成生物学和精准发酵技术生产。焦点小组的参与者来自国际范围内的潜在“早期采用者”样本。为了激发讨论，向参与者展示了一系列视觉“情绪板”，其中列出了支持和反对AFD的关键论点。讨论中出现了三个主要主题集群。第一个集群聚焦于“生产过程、安全性和监管”问题，核心是参与者对AFD概念的总体反应、他们的主要担忧、关键问题，以及为支持其发展所需的保障措施。第二个集群聚焦于“消费者偏好和优先事项”问题，其特点是参与者所表达的消费者利益往往复杂，有时甚至完全矛盾。第三个集群聚焦于“食品技术与未来”问题，参与者在此表达了对食品技术在社会中一般作用的更广泛看法，特别是对AFD潜在未来的看法。参与者的普遍共识是对AFD的想法持谨慎开放态度。对该概念的直接反对很少见，但毫无保留的热情也不多见。相反，受访者对技术过程的性质、其整体安全和监管标准、对个人健康和缓解气候变化的潜在贡献，以及其感官特性和对消费者的价格等方面提出了一些问题。在支持性观点中，关于动物福利的说法被认为最相关且有说服力。在反对性观点中，对扰乱自然和给个人带来潜在健康风险的担忧被视为反对AFD的最有力论据。研究结果表明，AFD作为一个可行的市场选择，其未来的关键在很大程度上取决于它能够在多大程度上清楚地证明它优于传统乳制品或其植物基竞争对手，特别是在口味方面，同时也要考虑健康与安全、营养、环境影响和动物福利等因素。
