Transitioning to a flexitarian diet: Exploring barriers and enablers of non-animal protein consumption in UK families

Other investigators

To be announced

Description

Population-level transition to a diet that is plant-rich and lower in animal-based foods (e.g. meat) is important for combating climate change, and can improve dietary health. However, many people are unwilling to reduce their meat consumption, with only 14% of UK adults reporting to follow a flexitarian diet (focused primarily on non-animal protein while consuming animal protein in moderation). Working with Marlow Foods (Quorn; the UK’s leading non-animal protein brand), this project explores barriers and enablers to consuming non-animal protein (like grains, pulses, and mycoprotein) in UK families. To date, research has focused on barriers and enablers of non-animal protein consumption in adults without considering the people they purchase food for and eat food with, especially children. In the UK, there are over 4.85 million families with children who report eating together every day. Informed by Patient and Public Involvement, we will conduct a mixed-methods project. Quantitative (Study 1) and qualitative (Study 2) data will be collected in parallel to explore why families in the UK may or may not choose to purchase and consume non-animal protein, particularly examining whether these reasons differ when parents eat with their children compared to when eating alone or with other adults.

Project keywords

(1) Non-animal protein (2) Flexitarianism (3) Consumer acceptance (4) Parent-child interaction

Outputs

We successfully collaborated with Marlow Foods (Quorn) and worked with various members in the Insight and Nutrition teams. We have a publication in preparation, which we aim to submit to the journal Foods as a special issue on Plant-Based Alternatives. We are writing a blog summarising the key findings, which will be published on Quorn’s Nutrition platform (1.5K followers on LinkedIn, 2.4K followers on Instagram). We have presented the project findings at the two conferences (British Feeding and Drinking Group 2025, Nutrition Society 2025), which will result in two published abstracts in the journals Appetite and Nutrition Society. We are also presenting the findings at the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC) inaugural conference in September 2025, which we hope will be a fantastic opportunity to disseminate to relevant industry leaders, academics and policymakers and build new networks and collaborations for future funding applications. We have secured a CSC studentship, starting September 2025, exploring how to increase acceptance of entomophagy in free living humans. We are presenting our findings to the Bristol Veterinary School, Farm Animal Discussion Group in 2025, which we hope will lead to new collaborations. We are currently considering and developing ideas for future funding through Consumer Lab (feasibility award) or NAPIC (proof of concept 2 award), building on our project findings to inform strategies to increase non-animal protein consumption among UK families with children. During our last meeting with our industry partner, we presented the findings of the study, discussed ideas arising from the findings, future funding routes, and possible future collaborations. We discussed project ideas that we would like to consider taking forward, and agreed that we (the project team) would prepare a project proposal in the coming months for Quorn to consider and discuss with the wider team. Building on the findings of our mixed methods study, a future project proposal would be centred around exploring the feasibility and acceptability of strategies to increase non-animal protein consumption among families with children (e.g., how processing versus fortification is communicated on labelling, combing animal and non-animal proteins in products), which could have future impact on marketing of non-animal proteins, and population-level intake of animal and non-animal proteins, which could help to combat climate change and poor dietary health. The paper will be published open access and we will disseminate the findings more widely through the Quorn Nutrition platform blog.

Email contact

Alice.porter@bristol.ac.uk