Abstract：
Despite the growing interest in innovative nonanimal protein-prepared foods, knowledge about consumer demand for these newly prepared foods and their potential scope in the market could be improved. This study reports the results of a discrete choice experiment on consumers\' (n = 1245) willingness to pay (WTP) for prepared plant-based meat (PPBM) in the context of Chinese food culture. Consumers were randomly assigned to a treated group with additional environmental information about PPBM. The estimation results of the random parameter logit model showed that when environmental information was provided, consumer preferences and WTP for frozen meatballs with mixed meat (beef-based and soy protein-based meat) and PBM (pure soy protein-based meat) significantly increased. However, their preference and WTP for food quality and safety attributes of meatballs decreased. Simultaneously, the availability of information reveals the heterogeneity of preferences. This study found that positive WTP for PPBM was limited to consumers with a low degree of food technology neophobia (FTN) and that consumers with a high degree of FTN may avoid purchasing meatballs made from PBM. In contrast, consumers with a higher time preference (i.e., impatient consumers) were likelier to pay for PPBM meatballs. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: PPBM is especially valuable in developing innovative nonanimal protein-prepared foods, and China has the potential to become the largest PPBM food market. Understanding consumers\' preference for PPBM products and the impact of information provision on their WTP will assist food companies in devising suitable strategies for the development of new PPBM products. The findings of this study provide targeted market insights for the food industry to help guide the development of plant-based meat products more effectively.
摘要：
尽管人们对创新的非动物蛋白制备食品越来越感兴趣，有关消费者对这些新准备食品的需求及其在市场上的潜在范围的知识可以提高。这项研究报告了在中国饮食文化背景下，消费者（n=1245）对准备的植物性肉类（PPBM）支付意愿（WTP）的离散选择实验的结果。将消费者随机分配到具有关于PPBM的额外环境信息的治疗组。随机参数Logit模型的估计结果表明，当提供环境信息时，消费者对含有混合肉（基于牛肉和基于大豆蛋白的肉）和PBM（基于纯大豆蛋白的肉）的冷冻肉丸的偏好和WTP显着增加。然而,他们对肉丸食品质量和安全属性的偏好和WTP下降。同时,信息的可用性揭示了偏好的异质性。这项研究发现，PPBM的阳性WTP仅限于食品技术恐惧症（FTN）程度较低的消费者，而FTN程度较高的消费者可能会避免购买由PBM制成的肉丸。相比之下,具有较高时间偏好的消费者(即，不耐烦的消费者)更有可能为PPBM肉丸买单。实际应用：PPBM在开发创新的非动物蛋白质制备食品方面特别有价值，中国有潜力成为最大的PPBM食品市场。了解消费者对PPBM产品的偏好以及信息提供对其WTP的影响将有助于食品公司制定合适的策略来开发新的PPBM产品。这项研究的发现为食品工业提供了有针对性的市场见解，以帮助更有效地指导基于植物的肉类产品的开发。
