CREA Council for Agricultural Research and Economics-Research Centre for Food and Nutrition, 00178 Rome, Italy.
Department of Mathematics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", 00133 Rome, Italy.
Nutrients. 2023 Sep 5;15(18):3861. doi: 10.3390/nu15183861.
Growing worldwide food demand with its environmental impacts requires a reshaping of food consumption. This study aims to evaluate the degree of Italian consumers' awareness of sustainability and whether protein alternatives to meat could be accepted. A cross-sectional survey was carried out on a group of 815 respondents, representative of the Italian adult population for geography, gender, and age, using multivariate analysis together with cluster analysis. Lack of awareness of the consequences of food choices on the environment was found in 45% of respondents, and 51% reduced their consumption of meat. Typical foods of the Mediterranean diet (84% legumes 82% eggs, and 77% fish) were selected as the preferred sources of protein to replace meat, while insects and insect-based products were less accepted (67%). The importance of meat is the latent factor that explains more than 50% of the common variance observed in the factor analysis. The cluster analysis confirmed the importance of meat for Italian consumers, emphasizing other aspects of the sustainability of food choices. Cluster 1 (25.6%) considered meat very important. Two out of five clusters (clusters 2 and 3, 38%) considered meat replaceable in the diet, and cluster 4 (31.3%) included meat consumers that were willing to be sustainable. Cluster 5 identifies the "unsustainable consumers" (5.7%). In conclusion, besides the perceived importance of meat, there is room for recommendations for its reduction by proposing alternative foods already present in the Mediterranean diet.
随着全球粮食需求的增长及其对环境的影响，需要重新调整粮食消费模式。本研究旨在评估意大利消费者对可持续性的认知程度，以及肉类的蛋白质替代品是否可以被接受。采用多变量分析和聚类分析，对一组 815 名具有代表性的意大利成年人口（按地理位置、性别和年龄划分）进行了横断面调查。结果发现，45%的受访者对食物选择对环境的影响缺乏认识，51%的受访者减少了肉类消费。作为替代肉类的首选蛋白质来源，受访者选择了典型的地中海饮食食品（84%的豆类、82%的鸡蛋和 77%的鱼类），而对昆虫和昆虫类产品的接受度较低（67%）。肉类的重要性是解释因子分析中观察到的超过 50%共同方差的潜在因素。聚类分析证实了肉类对意大利消费者的重要性，强调了食物选择可持续性的其他方面。聚类 1（25.6%）认为肉类非常重要。五个聚类中有两个（聚类 2 和 3，占 38%）认为肉类在饮食中是可替代的，聚类 4（31.3%）包括愿意可持续消费的肉类消费者。聚类 5 确定了“不可持续的消费者”（5.7%）。总之，除了对肉类的感知重要性外，还可以通过提出已经存在于地中海饮食中的替代食品来减少肉类的推荐。
