# Consumer Acceptance of Cultured Meat: An Updated Review (2018-2020)
## 4 Consumer Acceptance
### Comparisons to Other Alternative Proteins and Food Technologies  
Our previous review found some comparisons with other alternative proteins [12; 39], though these were far more common in more recent literature. While cultured meat has garnered attention for its novelty and revolutionary potential, some commentators have worried that a focus on novel technological solutions could cause researchers and resources to overlook other more immediately available alternatives [37; 43].  
Meanwhile, others have suggested that we learn from other similar food technology innovations such as genetically modified organisms (GMOs; see [PERSON] & [PERSON] [44]). In particular, European advocates should be wary of similarities in the perceptions of cultured meat and GMOs, given the legal status of the latter [12]. [PERSON] et al. [24] found that cultured meat was more acceptable to their Swiss sample compared to genetically modified food, which is encouraging news for cultured meat companies aiming to sell products in Europe.  
Several studies have compared the acceptance of cultured meat to insect protein. Entomophagy, the practice of eating insects, has become a part of the alternative protein conversation for some--however, the evidence broadly suggests that this is less appealing to consumers than cultured meat [22; 23; 26]. This preference was observed in most studies which made the comparison (with the exception of [PERSON] et al. [27]) and some authors report that consumers preferred cultured meat over eating insects even though they rated it as less natural and less healthy [23; 26].  
There are also several comparisons of cultured meat to plant-based meat. These generally find that plant-based meat is acceptable to more consumers at this time [22; 26; 27]. This may be because plant-based meat is more familiar to consumers [21]--indeed, as it is already available, some will have already eaten it.  
However, although there is a preference for plant-based meat on aggregate, other work indicates there is still a role for cultured meat to play. [PERSON], [PERSON] and [PERSON] [20] classified consumers in their Mumbai sample into one of four categories based on a latent class model of a discrete choice experiment. They found that consumers in this sample were fairly diverse in terms of their preferences for different protein sources: some, who were most likely to be vegetarian, preferred chana (21%); some, who were most likely to be Muslim, preferred conventional meat (27.5%); some preferred plant-based meat (32%), while others preferred cultured meat (19.6%). The fairly-even divide between these groups indicates that there is a role for a variety of alternative proteins catering to different consumers. In particular, [PERSON] et al. [21] found that, compared to plant-based meat, cultured meat purchase intent was more positively predicted by diet, meat attachment, and meat consumption, thus being more appealing to heavier meat-eaters.  
In practice, consumer preferences for cultured meat over other alternative proteins will depend on factors such as price, which may not be salient to respondents in these studies. When asked about the expected price of alternative proteins relative to conventional meat, respondents across countries in [PERSON] et al. [25] indicated that they thought cultured meat would be the most expensive alternative.