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• Hybrid meat product formulations were investigated using consumer co-creation. • Beef burgers with 25–50% plant-based ingredients and nutrition claims were preferred. • Most consumers in the UK, Spain and Denmark were willing to try hybrid meat products. • Hybrid meat products were considered more similar to plant-based products than meat. • Hybrid meat products were seen as healthy, ethical and environmentally friendly. Hybrid meat products are blends of meat and plant-based ingredients that could bridge the gap for consumers who want to reduce their meat intake, without sacrificing the taste, convenience and familiarity of traditional processed meat products. However, little is known about consumers' preferred formulations, willingness to try (WTT), willingness to buy (WTB), and how they are perceived compared to meat products and plant-based meat-free alternatives. Therefore, this study aimed to: 1) identify hybrid recipes with the most potential for acceptance using a co-creation approach; 2) understand WTT and WTB for hybrid products and 3) compare hybrid meat products vs meat products and plant-based meat-free alternatives on several attributes (healthy, ethical, environmentally friendly, convenient, affordable, tasty, enjoyable, acceptable, aspirational, nutritious, simple, safe). The online survey with a total of 2,405 consumers in Denmark, Spain and the UK, revealed that across countries consumers prefer a hypothetical beef burger made with 25% or 50% plant-based ingredients (onions, herbs, spices, garlic and mushrooms) and with a nutritional claim on protein or fat. At least 57% of consumers were willing to try and at least 46% were willing to buy hybrid meat products. Across countries and for most attributes, hybrid meat products scored similarly to plant-based meat-free alternatives and differently from meat products. Hybrid meat products and plant-based meat-free alternatives were considered as healthy, ethical and environmentally friendly, while meat products were considered affordable, tasty, enjoyable and simple. These findings provide insights and practical suggestions for companies manufacturing innovative solutions for meat products and policy makers aiming to promote more varied diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Hybrid products (HP) could enable sustainable plant-forward transition. • Sensory perceptions mediate the effects of attitudes on intention to buy HP. • Environmental self-identity has a minimal effect on attitudes towards HP. • Health consciousness affects plant-based attitudes and not attitudes towards HP. • HP mitigating sensory and sustainability/health trade-offs have market prospects. Although recommendations for a transition towards more plant-forward diets have been proposed and despite consumers reporting willingness to reduce meat consumption, consumer behaviour is frequently less environmentally sustainable than recommended. This calls for simpler strategies that may lead to a more optimistic view on both supply and demand side by using less rigid and more flexible approaches, such as hybrid products, combining meat and plant-based ingredients. Against this milieu, present study examines for the first-time in a cross-cultural context (Denmark, Spain, UK) and on a large consumer sample (N = 2766), attitudes and intention to buy hybrid products, while taking into account consumers individual traits related to meat attachment, health consciousness and environmental self-identity. Results show that hybrid products could be a crucial driver for enabling a successful plant-forward transition, as the meat element in these products, together with consumers' affinity and pleasure-seeking attitudes towards meat, would facilitate consumers' acceptance of more sustainable alternatives. Indeed, our results show that sensory perceptions play a major role in mediating the effect of consumers' attitudes on intention to buy hybrid products. Conversely, consumers' environmental self-identity and health consciousness have minimal to no effect on consumers' attitudes towards hybrid products. Thus, the results of our study support the value of strategies centring on bringing the best of two worlds: the pleasurable sensory characteristics of the meat realm, and the healthiness and sustainability benefits of the plant realm. In this sense, hybrid products could be an elegant initial approach adopted by practitioners and supported by policy makers to enable a more nuanced transition from fully meat-based to plant-forward diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Consumer co-creation of new healthier meat products in a cross-cultural context. • Unfamiliarity and overprocessing decrease product acceptance. • Plant-based ingredients with fat and salt reduction increase product acceptance. • Co-created product ideas favor healthy ingredients and packaging innovations. Healthier meat products have a major economic potential and are attracting considerable research and media attention to meet the growing and complex consumer demand. Whether this potential will be realized and at what speed is contingent on consumers' acceptance of these novel foods. This study uses a cross-cultural context to co-create new healthier meat products, while mapping the conditions leading to consumers' product acceptance (vs. rejection). Results from online focus groups conducted in Denmark, Spain and the United Kingdom show that consumers generally have a negative attitude toward healthier meat products due to unfamiliarity and perception of over-processing. Nevertheless, partial meat-substitution with plant-based ingredients together with fat and salt reduction show specific conditions under which consumers' acceptance would be possible. This is further related to product-specific factors: ingredients and base meat, and marketing-related factors: labelling and packaging. Finally, implications and recommendations for the manufacturing and marketing of new healthier meat products are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]