Amid rising anxiety over the environmental and health impacts of meat production, a growing wave of consumers is embracing a ‘flexitarian’ diet—a middle ground that scales back but doesn't entirely cut out meat consumption.
While campaigns like ‘Meat-Free Mondays’ have gained traction, the deeper drivers behind this dietary shift remain elusive. “Flexitarians are often seen as one homogenous group of consumers, hence we sought to identify subgroups of flexitarian consumers with different underlying psychological traits or motivations,” said Amanda Lim, a Senior Research Officer at A*STAR’s Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI).
Lim worked alongside Florence Sheen and Ciarán Forde, formerly of SIFBI’s Clinical Nutrition Research Centre, to survey 650 Singaporean flexitarians and delve deeper into their attitudes towards reducing meat consumption. The study was part of a broader initiative under a bilateral grant with Massey University in New Zealand, aimed at decoding consumer motivations and the hurdles they face in embracing future foods such as alternative meat products.
The criteria for being considered a flexitarian were broad, ranging from those reducing meat intake just once a week to those only eating meat once a month. From this diverse pool, flexitarians who reported reducing meat intake weekly completed validated psychological questionnaires on their dietary motivations.
In the first part of the study, consumers were segmented into three clusters: ‘health-driven’, ‘trend-cautious’, and ‘adventurous’ flexitarians. ‘Health-driven’ flexitarians prioritized well-being, ‘adventurous’ flexitarians sought new taste experiences, and ‘trend-cautious’ flexitarians focused on social and ethical concerns. These clusters were validated in a follow-up study, defining similar segments: ‘health-only’, ‘traditional trend-cautious’, ‘adventurous’ and ‘health-focused’.
Despite these varied psychological profiles, all clusters reported similar levels of meat consumption, highlighting a notable gap between intention and actual behaviour. The study team highlighted the common intention-behaviour gap in sustainability-related actions, noting the disparity between aspirations and actual behaviour.
The findings from this study illuminate the complex motivations behind flexitarian diets and the potential for targeted strategies to promote alternative protein sources. “Designing and marketing products that appeal to the whole flexitarian spectrum can support adoption of these alternatives and potentially further reductions in meat consumption,” concluded the team.
The researchers have since completed a lab-based study to assess how sustainability-focused marketing can affect the sensory perceptions and satiation levels of animal and plant-based proteins, hoping to refine and shape consumer behaviour in this evolving dietary landscape.
The A*STAR-affiliated researchers contributing to this research are from the Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI).
