The sustained growth of global meat consumption incentivized the development of the meat substitute industry. However, long-term global commercialization of meat substitutes faces challenges that arise from technological innovation, limited consumer awareness, and an imperfect regulatory environment. Many important questions require urgent answers. This paper presents a review of issues affecting meat substitute manufacturing and marketing, and helps to bridge important gaps which appear in the literature. To date, global research on meat substitutes focuses mainly on technology enhancement, cost reduction, and commercialization with a few studies focused on a regulatory perspective. Furthermore, the studies on meat substitute effects on environmental pollution reduction, safety, and ethical risk perception are particularly important. A review of these trends leads to conclusions which anticipate the development of a much broader market for the meat substitute industry over the long term, the gradual discovery of solutions to technical obstacles, upgraded manufacturing, the persistent perception of ethical risk and its influence on consumer willingness to accept meat substitutes, and the urgent need for constructing an effective meat substitute regulatory system.

The world’s growing population requires an adequate supply of protein to maintain food security, but animal protein production is limited by the finite resources of land, fresh water, and ocean capacity. Several meat substitutes offer protein alternatives that may improve food security in less-developed economies. However, perceptions of difference in the ethical risk associated with consumption of plant-based substitutes (PM) vs. cultured meat (CM) may affect purchases of these products. This study examined differences in ethical risk perception using online survey data gathered in 2020. An ordered logit technique yielded the probabilities of changes in ethical risk perception influenced by demographic attributes, views about the technology, and adequacy of industry regulations. The results show that consumers associated PM with low ethical risk. Educated consumers were more likely to agree that the ethical risks of CM are higher than PM and to regard PM products as safer than CM. Price sensitivity made consumers more likely to agree that the ethical risks related to CM are higher than those related to PM. Ingredient safety concerns increased the ethical risk perception of CM. Consumers perceiving the meat substitute classification to be unclear were more likely to assign a higher ethical risk to CM than PM. The perception of ethical risk associated with CM was greater than that associated with PM if meat substitute industry regulations were inadequate. The results suggest a need to provide verifiable information about each type of meat substitute as well as transparent and understandable standards and rules before these products can improve protein availability and food security.

In the context of sustainable development, the behavior of reducing pesticide use in the agricultural sector is crucial for environmental protection and ecological balance. However, there are two divergent views on whether digital agricultural technology extension can promote farmers’ behavior in reducing pesticide use: one is supportive, and the other is doubtful. Based on interviews with 20 typical wheat growers in Henan, this paper re-examines this issue. The results show that the extension of digital agricultural technology has no significant impact on the pesticide reduction behavior of wheat growers. This paper further employs fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore the mechanisms influencing pesticide reduction behavior among wheat growers. The findings indicate that digital agricultural technology extension can only enhance growers’ ecological value cognition, but the ecological value cognition of pesticide reduction does not significantly promote the pesticide reduction behavior of wheat growers. Instead, rational economic value cognition plays a dominant role in promoting this behavior, with resource endowment serving as a supplementary factor. Therefore, this paper suggests integrating the characteristics of farmers’ resource endowment, fully leveraging the productive functions of digital agricultural technology extension, and focusing on enhancing farmers’ rational economic value cognition of pesticide reduction to further promote the application of pesticide reduction among farmers and provide strong support for sustainable agricultural development.

Purpose: This study aims to assess the effects of risk perception and management subject satisfaction on consumers' online meal food safety self-protection behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approach: This study uses 742 questionnaires collected via a two-stage online survey conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, between December 2021 and January 2022. The entropy method, descriptive statistics, ordered logit model, stepwise regression models, interaction terms and decentralization method were used in the quantitative analysis. Respondents’ written responses to self-protection behavior were categorized into five groups.Findings: Less than half of consumers were aware that online food products carry the risk of SARS-COV-2 (44.48%). Between 30 and 40% of consumers took insufficient or no self-protection measures. Risk perception significantly and positively affected self-protection behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumers' management subject satisfaction has a positive moderating effect on risk perception, with the moderating effect of the satisfaction of online retailers being significant at the 5% level. Risk perception significantly and positively influences consumer self-protection behavior in provinces not affected by the pandemic.Originality/value: The findings stress the benefits of synergistic interventions by consumers and management subject to food safety measures and the inclusion of tailored interventions during events threatening public health to effectively address food safety. The study offers valuable insights contributing to the improvement of public health outcomes, customer trust and service quality within the online food delivery industry.

To protect the safety of food bought from the online catering sector, the former State Food and Drug Administration of China issued two separate regulations in 2016 and 2017. Independently, the Shanghai government formulated local regulations, including the Shanghai Online Catering Service Supervision and Management Measures, to strengthen food safety supervision in this megacity with the largest catering sector in China. This study explored factors that influence consumer perceptions of the performance of online catering food safety regulations using survey data from 1050 respondents collected in 2019. The results indicate that consumers believe that Shanghai’s online catering industry has improved by varying degrees in terms of food freshness, ingredient traceability, foreign matter control, food temperature control, internal packaging hygiene and environmental protection, and satisfaction with food safety. The factors that influenced the listed features include the number and effectiveness of government-issued regulations regarding the online catering sector, effectiveness of ordering platform food safety regulations, employee training frequency, employee food safety awareness, delivery box cleanliness and courier personal hygiene, consumer trust in ordering platform services, and consumer confidence in government supervision. These factors significantly and positively affected the consumers’ perceptions of the performance of food safety regulations in the online catering sector.

This paper examines the perception of risk associated with the presence of coronavirus in food purchased online and online vs. offline food shopping during the COVID-19 epidemic. The influence of COVID-19 status on risk perception was tested using the data collected from 742 consumers between December 2021 and January 2022. The empirical approach distinguished between the epidemic’s status in a province (or region), city, and other areas of the country and applied the ordered logit technique. The regional and citywide epidemic increased the perception that online purchases carry the virus and are riskier than those made offline. Further examination showed that the regional/provincial epidemic created the perception that packaging or social media use were risk factors when purchasing food online. Heterogeneity analysis showed that risk perception was significantly higher in affected cities than in non-affected provinces or other provinces. Risk perception differed across five online food categories, with the highest levels for online-ordered meals and fresh products. Strengthening COVID-19 prevention and control in cities and the province, managing risk due to the handling of food purchased online, and government monitoring of social media use will lessen consumers’ risk perceptions and encourage the use of online food offers during epidemics.