- When a food gift basket was labeled “vegan,” only 20 percent of people chose it
- But when it was labeled 'healthy and sustainable' it had an uptake of 44 percent
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New research shows that plant-based foods are much more attractive if they are not labeled as vegan.
When a food gift basket was labeled as “plant-based” or “vegan,” only 20 percent of people chose it, but the same basket labeled “healthy and sustainable” had a 44 percent acceptance rate.
Many people choose a vegan diet because research shows that limiting meat and dairy intake and eating more fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.
But the latest research shows that people are still reluctant to eat food labeled 'vegan' and respond better to alternative terms.
Red meat lovers are much more likely to turn to meat- and dairy-free products if the word vegan doesn't belong to them
Researchers have now found that more of the population could adopt a healthier diet if it were marketed differently.
A team from the University of Southern California conducted a national food choice experiment to determine how people respond to labels like “vegan” and “plant-based” compared to “healthy,” “sustainable” or “healthy and sustainable.”
In the study, presented at the Society for Risk Analysis 2023 annual conference, 7,341 participants chose between a food gift basket without meat and dairy and another with meat and dairy.
Participants were randomly assigned one of the five labels above for their meat- and dairy-free choice.
They found that the meat and dairy-free food gift basket was less likely to be chosen if the label focused on its contents (stating “vegan” or “plant-based”) rather than its benefits (stating “healthy,” sustainable' or both).
Only 20 percent of participants chose the meat and dairy-free food basket when it was labeled as vegan, while 27 percent chose it when it was labeled as plant-based.
In contrast, 42 percent of participants chose the meat and dairy-free food basket when it was labeled as healthy, 43 percent chose it when it was labeled as sustainable, and 44 percent chose it when it was labeled as healthy and sustainable.
Dr. Patrycja Sleboda, assistant professor of psychology at the City University of New York, who led the study, said: 'This labeling effect was especially pronounced among individuals who identified as red meat eaters and across socio-demographic groups.
'Changing labels is therefore a low-cost, scalable intervention for promoting healthy and environmentally sustainable food choices.'
In the US, about five percent of people are vegetarian and three percent are vegan.