Food & Technology 2022 – Consumer Views on Scientific Progress and Food Technology
September 20, 2022
As we launch our new study Food & Technology 2022, our infographic this week highlights how from health to climate change to sustainability, consumers feel both nostalgia for simpler times and excitement for a tech-driven future, often shifting between paradigms as they consider food innovations. For example, when asked about their attitudes toward technology and science in relation to food, findings from our earlier 2019 Food & Technology study (which we are updating) show that 56% of consumers at that time agreed strongly (or somewhat) with the idea that science and technology are our best bet to address climate change.
And yet, in terms of shifting between paradigms, consumers feel that science and technology should have limits. When considering the acceptability of technologically innovative food, they deploy a culturally based moral equation: do the ends justify the means?
Food & Technology 2022 builds upon the idea that the way we "do food" — grow it, manufacture it, plan it, source it, prepare it — has taken giant leaps forward in the high-tech direction in recent years, and the pace of “food-tech” innovation is only accelerating. Advances in manufacturing and biology are yielding new ingredients in and categories of food and beverage. Robots are beginning to make and deliver our food. At home, our kitchens are becoming "smarter” and more connected, offering both greater control over and automation of how we store, cook, and even grow and dispose of food.
The study will build on and update our 2019 research to explore evolving consumer awareness, attitudes, usage, and drivers around a range of food-tech innovations. In particular, the study will explore technologies related to food production and in-home food management through the consumer lens.
More about the new study: Grounded in primary quantitative and qualitative research, Food & Technology 2022 combines both new and trended quantitative research with in-depth ethnographic consumer immersions to explore evolving consumer awareness, attitudes, usage, and drivers around a range of food-tech innovations.
Download the Food & Technology 2022 study overview and order form here.
Learn more about how Hartman’s syndicated reports can be an essential resource to help you navigate the way forward in these uncertain times. Contact: melissa@hartman-group.com