Consumers’ perceptions of healthiness and environmental friendliness of plant-based and dairy product concepts

The call to replace animal food products with plant-based products is increasing, mainly for environmental, ethical, and health reasons. To develop plant-based alternatives that will be accepted and consumed, it is important to understand how consumers perceive them. Many studies have examined consumers' perceptions of meat and meat alternatives, and some have investigated how these perceptions differ from objective evaluations. However, few studies have addressed consumers' perceptions of dairy products and plant-based dairy alternatives (PBDAs). Therefore, this study investigated how Swiss consumers perceived commercially available dairy and PBDAs product concepts in terms of their healthiness and environmental friendliness and whether their perceptions were consistent with objective evaluations (life-cycle assessment (LCA) and nutrient profiling) of the real products. In an online survey, 518 participants rated 7 dairy and 9 PBDAs product concepts, including milk, cheese, and yogurt, as well as their plant-based alternatives. The results suggest that consumers overestimate the healthiness and environmental friendliness of dairy, especially hard cheese, while underestimating those of PBDAs, especially soy, in contrast to LCA and nutrient profiling scores. PBDAs are also not perceived as automatically healthier or environmentally friendlier just because they are milk-free. Even though PBDAs are niche products and consumers seem skeptical of new products that replace traditional ones, their potential for widespread adoption might increase in the future depending on consumers healthiness and environmental friendliness perceptions thereof.