Research report Flemish consumer attitudes towards more sustainable food choices q Filiep Vanhonacker ⇑ , Ellen J. Van Loo, Xavier Gellynck, Wim Verbeke Department of Agricultural Economics, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium article info Article history: Received 6 August 2012 Received in revised form 6 November 2012 Accepted 8 November 2012 Available online 26 November 2012 Keywords: Belgium Consumers Ecological footprint Food Meat substitutes Meat replacers Segmentation Sustainability abstract Intensive agricultural practices and current western consumption patterns are associated with increased ecological pressure. One way to reduce the ecological impact could be a shift to more sustainable food choices. This study investigates consumer opinions towards a series of food choices with a lower ecolog- ical impact. The investigated food choices range from well-known meat substitutes to alternatives which are more radical or innovative and that require an adaptation of food habits and cultural patterns. Results are obtained through a survey among 221 Flemish respondents in Spring 2011. Many consumers under- estimate the ecological impact of animal production. Well-known alternatives such as organic meat, moderation of meat consumption and sustainable fish are accepted, although willingness to pay is clearly lower than willingness to consume. Consumers are more reluctant to alternatives that (partly) ban or replace meat in the meal. Opportunities of introducing insects currently appear to be non-existent. Five consumer segments were identified based on self-evaluated ecological footprint and personal relevance of the ecological footprint. The segments were termed Conscious, Active, Unwilling, Ignorant and Uncer- tain. A profile in terms of demographics, attitudinal and behavioral characteristics is developed for each segments, and conclusions with respect to opportunities for sustainable food choices are discussed. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Along with the emerging societal significance of sustainability, the concept of ecological footprint has come to the forefront. Eco- logical footprint is defined as a measure of the load on nature im- posed by a given population or individual. It is expressed in terms of hectares and represents the area of the Earth’s surface necessary to sustain levels of resource consumption and waste discharge by that population or individual (Wackernagel & Rees, 1996). The average ecological footprint of a European consumer has been esti- mated at 4.72 global hectares per capita in 2007 (Global Footprint Network, 2011). Consumers in Belgium, which is the area of this study, have one of the largest footprints (7.11 global hectares/ person) (Global Footprint Network, 2011). Food consumption in general and meat consumption in particular accounts for a significant proportion of the ecological footprint of individuals with a carnivorous diet, due to the strong contribution of agricul- ture and animal production to all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (EIPRO, 2006; FAO, 2006b). Driven by the increasing world population, increasing incomes, urbanization and diversification of the diet in developing countries, global meat consumption is expected to increase (Food, 2006a). As such innovative technologies and increased efficiency of animal production alone will not be sufficient to solve the environmental problems related to the growing animal protein demand (Garnett, 2011). To maintain a sustainable environment, a better balance be- tween meat consumption and livestock production’s environmen- tal impact will be essential, and a change in meat consumption will be inevitable to lessen food-related GHG emissions (Garnett, 2011; WWF, 2012). This study investigates opportunities and bottlenecks of some alternative and more sustainable food choices in terms of consumer evaluation. In this study sustainable food choices refer to more ecological-friendly food choices. In order to acknowledge differ- ences in society, a segmentation analysis is included. Segmentation research, independent of the method used, is designed to identify groups of objects with common characteristics, e.g. consumers with similar attitudes, motivations, eating habits or lifestyles. Consumers that are grouped together in a potential target segment are intended to be similar to each other, and dissimilar to consum- ers outside the segment (Pieniak, Verbeke, Olsen, Birch Hansen, & Brunsø, 2010). The most frequently used statistical method for seg- mentation of people in marketing research is cluster analysis (Beane & Ennis, 1987). Segmentation research allows a better understanding on how to make sustainable food choices more relevant to different consumers and how to better position sustain- able food products in a competitive marketing environment. From this angle, distinct consumer profiles can be established which provide insights on how to target, communicate and convince these distinct groups to make more sustainable food choices. 0195-6663/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2012.11.003 q Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank Els Coenen, Margot Goossens, Rebecca Ongenaert and Lien Van De Wielle for their assistance in the data collection process. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: filiep.vanhonacker@ugent.be (F. Vanhonacker). Appetite 62 (2013) 7–16 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Appetite journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/appet