Aquaculture America 2023

February 23 - 26, 2023

New Orleans, Louisiana USA

A STUDY ON US CONSUMERS’ PERCEPTIONS, PREFERENCES, AND WILLINGNESS TO PAY (WTP) FOR CELL-BASED SEAFOOD AT GROCERY SETTING

Food Science and Human Nutrition Department

University of Florida,

572 Newell Drive,

Gainesville, FL 32611.

xchuah@ufl.edu

 



Cellular agriculture is a novel food production system that uses the advances in muscle tissue engineering techniques for recreative medicine for food production.  Although in its infancy this technique has incredible potential for creating sustainable seafood sources and can help with addressing the growing global demand for seafood globally. This alternative seafood production system is also crucial for relieving the pressure on our ocean and reducing the need for the high amounts of energy, water, and feed required for the aquaculture production of seafood. However, the cell-based seafood industry needs to address numerous technological, societal, challenges before the realization of affordable, scalable, and ubiquitous cell-based seafood production. Amongst these challenges are consumer acceptance, perceptions and willingness and to pay and try novel seafood products. Hence, this study aimed to address this question through an online survey targeting 1500 U.S. residents, ages 18 to 65, with the samples representing nationwide population to understand the influence of personal and family’s seafood consumption patterns, conventional and cell-based seafood perceptions, and demographic factors on their cell-based seafood attitude and WTP. Single bound dichotomous choice experiment (DCE) was the model that assesses consumers’ WTP for cultured seafood. The three main attributes of this DCE were 1) Fish species (salmon, tuna, and shrimp); 2) Production method (farm-raised, wild-caught, and cell-based seafood); 3) Price levels (6 levels for each species). Mixed logit (MXL) was the statistical model in this experiment. A focus group with28 participants was conducted to test pre-conceived findings and uncover ideas that may have not been considered. The result showed that sensory was the main motivation for consumers to purchase cell-based seafood, followed by environmental impact, toxin-free, cost, and health benefits. Hence, this study utilized a between-subject approach to examine the effects of various information types on consumer preferences for cell-based seafood. All 1500 respondents were randomly assigned to one of the three treatments (control, sustainability, toxin-free). The results of the study will contribute to the current literature on consumers’ perceptions, preferences, and WTP on consuming cell-based seafood, and provide insights into the potential price point of cell-based seafood as an alternative product in the market.