Assessing Trends on Consumption of Animal Products Through a Machine Learning Analysis of Consumer Motivations
Résumé
Consumer demand is constantly evolving, and in recent years plant-based diets are becoming more
appealing to the general public. However, consumers' preferences evolve at different speeds,
integrating environmental concerns, health considerations, and ethical issues. It is therefore
important to be able to identify and separate trends in demand among the general public. From
the data collected through a survey of 1,715 respondents in France, concerning priorities,
preferences, and drivers of change in food choice, we performed an in-depth analysis through
machine learning techniques such as clustering and classification. While 40% of the interviewed
reported that their current diet is different from their ideal, and 98% of them wished to reduce
their consumption of animal products, our analysis revealed several salient variables that
characterize different classes of individuals. For example, the willingness to change the diet is
stronger for the younger population, while the main obstacles against adopting a plant-based diet
are food pleasure, health concerns, and to a lesser extent social resistance and animal ethics. From
the analysis, it seems that environmental concerns are the main motivation especially for people
that reduce their consumption of animal products in a less radical way