Researchers found that in the United Kingdom, reduced meat portions had the largest impact on total meat consumption decline (52%), followed by fewer meat-eating days (24%), fewer meat consumers (17%) and fewer meat-eating meal occasions (7%). Understanding meat consumption behaviour patterns is key for more effective policies.

In this policy brief, the Food Research Collaboration summarises points relevant to food and diet in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Working Group 3 report, published in April 2022. The summary notes that both individual and policy-level choices about food are highly relevant to climate change and could make significant contributions to climate mitigation; that action is required on both consumption and production; that demand-side interventions can have beneficial effects for health; that individual action alone is not sufficient; and that “choice architecture” can influence demand patterns.

The UK’s Food Standards Agency has published four reports reviewing the evidence on factors that influence food consumption behaviours. They cover interventions to reduce salt, fat and sugar consumption; public views of and influences on meat and dairy consumption; and the psychologies of food choice.

This paper reviews the evidence on interventions that can increase or decrease consumption of animal-source foods. It finds that providing information on the environmental impacts of meat can reduce consumption, as can - to a more limited extent - providing information on health and animal welfare impacts, emphasising social norms such as trends towards plant-based eating, and reducing meat portion sizes.

This paper analyses the annual reports and websites of 12 leading food and beverage companies and finds that a number of artificial intelligence (AI) enabled methods are being used to “nudge” consumer behaviour or choices, for example by changing the position of options on menu boards, automatically suggesting additional products based on a customer’s current choices, or using virtual-reality-based marketing.

This paper co-authored by FCRN member Emma Garnett finds that placing vegetarian options first on the counter of student cafeterias increases their sales by 5-6% when the different options are widely spaced (>1.5m), but not when the options are close together (<1.0m).

According to this paper, survey participants were less likely to support implementing carbon taxes if they were also given the option of implementing a “green nudge” policy (making renewable energy plans the default option for residential consumers, but not compulsory).

In two experiments where participants were asked to choose between hypothetical canteen meals, “traffic light labelling” (red, amber or green labels) of different meal options was found to shift meal choices towards those lower in carbon emissions and calorie content.

This Buzzfeed story follows allegations that a Cornell researcher published studies obtained through the scientifically dubious method of ‘p-hacking’.