Asia has the largest population in the world, and with China and India firmly in the lead in terms of population numbers, it is expected to remain the largest global population for decades to come.
By 2050, Asia is projected to have around 5.2 billion people in total and make up approximately 56% of the total world population.
This enormous number also means that this region will have the largest need and demand for protein supply, which would usually mean welcoming all protein sources such as alternative proteins with open arms – but the past few years have clearly shown that alt protein acceptance in Asia has been far slower than in most other regions.
Many potential explanations have been offered for this phenomenon, from inferior product taste to high prices to a lack of confidence in the technology and processes used to make these alternative proteins – and at the end of the day, it will be impossible to grow this category without getting to the heart of the problem and solving it.
Singapore-based researchers from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) conducted a study on over 1,000 participants to examine these factors, and how to develop durable, long-lasting acceptance of alternative proteins in this region.
“There is no doubt that consumer uptake of alternative proteins is lagging especially in Asia, and a major objective of this study was to identify which drivers are the strongest [in order to help] companies and regulators determine which areas to focus on moving forward,” study researcher Haiman Samad told the floor at the recent Global Agri-Food Scientific Symposium organised by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA).
“While conducting the survey on multiple types of alternative proteins, i.e. plant-based, fungi-based, cultivated and insect-based, one of the key insights we found was that there is no one-size-fits-all solution that can apply to all of these.”
Among the many potential drivers for the sector, the researchers found that perceived benefits of alternative proteins, especially health and nutritional benefits, were the strongest and most consistent driver of consumer acceptance.
“Importantly, we measured consumer acceptance at two separate points in time and realised that these perceived benefits can have very strong impacts on acceptance – putting in the message early on that a product is beneficial will have durable impacts many months later, something for firms to remember,” he said.
“That said, there are still many nuances to consider among the different categories of alt proteins – there is a fairly strong correlation between perceived benefits and acceptance when it comes plant-based and fungi-based proteins, but not so much when it comes to insect protein.”
Interestingly, when the researchers made the measurements at two points in time, insect protein initially measured in with the highest consumer acceptance compared to the other categories – but dropped to the bottom of the list during the second measurement.
“This is an example of the impact of social desirability on consumer acceptance – there was likely an initial high rating for insect protein because there was a novelty aspect to it and people wanted to be associated with more sustainable choices, but during the second measurement the reality set in about eating insects so the ratings dropped drastically,” he said.
Safety not enough
Many alt protein discussions in the region have focused on the safety aspect, largely driven by efforts towards regulatory acceptance – but Samad stressed that safety alone is no longer enough to drive consumer interest or acceptance.
“Food safety is no longer a point of attraction but is expected to be embedded in all alternative proteins, so the conversations need to move beyond this as a focal point,” he said.
“To increase acceptance over time, regulators will need to work on reducing food tech neophobia (discomfort with foods made via new technologies) whist increasing perceived benefits of these foods – it is no longer enough to just say they are safe as consumers now need positive justification to make the shift, i.e. we need to tell them why it is worth it to choose alternative proteins and not so much tell them why it is not scary.”
In short, some necessary areas of change to increase acceptance will be to lead alt protein messaging with benefits, support this with safety, as well as work to reduce neophobia via transparent sourcing, religious clarifications, sample tastings and so on.
