Beyond borders: A cross-national study on cultivated meat acceptance in Italy, France, and the Netherlands

The diffusion of cultivated meat (CM) products has been proposed as a potential strategy to mitigate the impact of conventional animal-source food production. However, consumer research on CM acceptance remains limited by lack of cross-cultural and representative studies, key aspects to draw generalisable conclusions and assess market potential. To address this gap, we conducted a cross-national online survey in Italy and the Netherlands in 2023 and in France in 2024 ( n = 1500; quota-representative by gender, age, and education) to assess intentions, attitudes towards CM, key sociodemographic and background psychological predictors, including trust in food-safety authorities, food neophobia, technophobia, environmental concern, and natural-is-better heuristic. Results show that Italian respondents were relatively open to CM, displaying high engagement with the topic and intention levels comparable to Dutch consumers. Intentions to try and buy CM varied between and within countries, with notably higher reluctance in western French regions. Attitudes significantly predicted intentions and were primarily shaped by psychological factors, particularly trust in food safety authorities and food technophobia. These constructs emerged as central and consistent predictors across all countries, whereas the natural-is-better heuristic was not significant and environmental concern and food neophobia influence varied by country. Our research highlights the urgency of strengthening public trust in food-safety authorities through effective risk communication of this novel food technology and inclusive community engagement, especially as CM products potentially move closer to market approval in the European Union. Future cross-national research should prioritise regional differences and trust dynamics to better support informed consumer decision-making. • Italian consumers most frequently discussed or sought information about cultivated meat. • Western France shows the lowest openness to cultivated meat products. • Consumers are more willing to taste than to buy cultivated meat. • Trust and food technology neophobia are the most consistent predictors of attitudes. • Naturalness heuristic does not significantly predict consumer attitudes.