A new study from the Norwegian Food Research Institute found that too much intimate knowledge about meat could leave consumers queasy about their meal.
The doctoral study indicated that if proper distance isn’t maintained between dinner and diner then red meat is viewed with disgust, particularly among young women.
Researcher Elin Kubberød said that studying negative product emotion was important for the industry for both presentation and marketing.
Giving products pastoral settings created an uncomfortable intimacy with the source of the meal and familiar, pet names generated a strong sense of disgust. Kubberød said that care should also be taken when presenting information such as traceability and origin of meat.
“Women don’t want to eat their “friends” and don’t want to look ‘Daisy’ in the eye when buying meat,” Kubberød told newspaper Nationen.
The 236 subjects in the study were evenly divided by age and sex.
