CHOICES
A publication of AAEA
Kealey Collison (kealeycollison@ufl.edu) is a graduate student, Food and Resource Economics Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
Kelsey Vought (kvought@ufl.edu) is a graduate student, Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
Abhishek Rajan (a.rajan@ufl.edu) is a graduate student, Food and Resource Economics Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
Olesya M. Savchenko* (olesya.savchenko@ufl.edu) is an Assistant Professor, Food and Resource Economics Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
Kelly A. Davidson (kade@udel.edu) is an Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Economics and Statistics, University of Delaware, Newark, DE.
John C. Bernard (jbernard@udel.edu) is a Professor, Department of Applied Economics and Statistics, University of Delaware, Newark, DE.
*Corresponding Author: Olesya M. Savchenko, email address: olesya.savchenko@ufl.edu; postal address: 1183 McCarty Hall A, Gainesville, FL, 32611.
Survey of consumer preferences for fish produced using cell-culture technology. July 2021.
The world's appetite for fish is likely to double by 2050 compared to 2015 due to population growth, rising incomes, and increasing public awareness about fish as a critical protein source. A major challenge for global fisheries is to meet this increasing demand when fish supply is at risk of overfishing, climate change, and marine ecosystem destruction. The food industry is responding through innovative alternative solutions. Cell-cultured fish production is an emerging food technology that has the potential to overcome the limitations of capture fishery and aquaculture to sustainably expand global fish production. This data visualization illustrates consumers' awareness, preferences, and willingness to pay for cell-cultured fish, and explores a suitable label to identify fish grown using this technology. Analysis of data collected from a national survey of 2,010 U.S. adult consumers shows that 30% of consumers are willing to buy fish produced using cell-culture technology. Respondents' overall impression of safety, taste, and nutrition of cell-cultured fish is positive. However, nearly 70% of respondents expressed unfamiliarity with this production technology as their reason for not purchasing cell-cultured fish. A label that defines the technology as production that starts with fish cells is most preferred by consumers.
