Revealed preferences on meat substitute consumption and political attitudes - Testing the left-right and environmental concerns framework.

The promotion of meat substitutes to reduce meat intake is a promising way to reduce the environmental and public health externalities of meat consumption while preserving the important role of taste and texture in meat products. However, the market for meat substitutes is developing more slowly than expected. Therefore, we analyze the factors associated with the heterogeneity in meat substitute consumption in Germany, a country where meat traditionally plays an important role. We use revealed preference data on meat substitute sales from 1025 individual retailers, sociodemographic data, and election results from 92 regions in Germany over the period 2017-2021, to analyze whether differences in meat substitute consumption are associated with consumers' political orientation (liberal/left or conservative/right) and socio-demographic variables. We also investigate whether election results for parties with stronger climate protection goals are associated with meat substitute consumption. Our results show that meat substitute consumption varies significantly across Germany and that this is related to differences in socio-demographic characteristics and voting behavior across regions. Voting for the Green Party and parties with strong climate protection ambitions is positively related to the market share of meat substitutes. In contrast, voting for Germany's most conservative party, which has the lowest ambitions in terms of climate protection targets, is associated with lower meat substitute consumption. Therefore, manufacturers could develop tailored marketing strategies that specifically target these voter groups in order to increase the market share of meat substitutes as alternatives to meat products.

Comparing meat and meat alternatives: an analysis of nutrient quality in five European countries.

OBJECTIVE: To assess and compare the (macro-)nutritional composition of red meat (RM) and poultry meat (PM) products with the emerging category of meat substitutes. DESIGN: We use information on nutritional values per 100 g to estimate the differences in the nutritional composition between RM, PM, vegan meat substitute (VMS) and non-vegan meat substitute (NVMS) and derive six unique meat product clusters to enhance the comparability. SETTING: Meat markets from five major European countries: France, Germany, UK, Italy and Spain. PARTICIPANTS/DATA: Product innovation data for 19 941 products from Mintel's Global New Product Database from 2010 to 2020. RESULTS: Most of the innovations in the sample are RM products (55 %), followed by poultry (30 %), VMS (11 %) and NVMS (5 %). RM products exhibit a significantly higher energy content in kcal/100 g as well as fat, saturated fat, protein and salt all in g/100 g than the meatless alternatives, while the latter contain significantly more carbohydrates and fibre than either poultry or RM. However, results differ to a certain degree when products are grouped into more homogeneous clusters like sausages, cold cuts and burgers. This indicates that general conclusions regarding the health effects of substituting meat with plant-based alternatives should only be drawn in relation to comparable products. CONCLUSIONS: Meat substitutes, both vegan and non-vegan, are rated as ultra-processed foods. However, compared with RM products, they and also poultry products both can provide a diet that contains fewer nutrients-to-limit, like salt and saturated fats.

From Ion-Like Ethylzinc Aluminates to [EtZn(arene)2 ]+ [Al(ORF )4 ]- Salts.

Attempts to prepare previously unknown simple and very Lewis acidic [RZn]+ [Al(ORF )4 ]- salts from ZnR2 , AlR3 , and HO-RF delivered the ion-like RZn(Al(ORF )4 ) (R=Me, Et; RF =C(CF3 )3 ) with a coordinated counterion, but never the ionic compound. Increasing the steric bulk in RZn+ to R=CH2 CMe3 , CH2 SiMe3 , or Cp*, thus attempting to induce ionization, failed and led only to reaction mixtures including anion decomposition. However, ionization of the ion-like EtZn(Al(ORF )4 ) compound with arenes yielded the [EtZn(arene)2 ]+ [Al(ORF )4 ]- salts with arene=toluene, mesitylene, or o-difluorobenzene (o-DFB)/toluene. In contrast to the ion-like EtZn(η3 -C6 H6 )(CHB11 Cl11 ), which co-crystallizes with one benzene molecule, the less coordinating nature of the [Al(ORF )4 ]- anion allowed the ionization and preparation of the purely organometallic [EtZn(arene)2 ]+ cation. These stable materials have further applications as, for example, initiators of isobutene polymerization. DFT calculations to compare the Lewis acidities of the zinc cations to those of a large number of organometallic cations were performed on the basis of fluoride ion affinity. The complexation energetics of EtZn+ with arenes and THF was assessed and related to the experiments.