New and emerging foods and food technologies

2025 Key insights

Most people are unfamiliar with new food technologies. The proportion of respondents who have never heard of cell cultured/cultivated dairy (52.5%) or precision fermentation (50.1%) has remained steady since 2023/24, though there has been a small increase in awareness of gene edited fruit and vegetables, with 30.7% having never heard of these in 2025 compared to 32.3% in 2023.
Confidence in new or emerging foods and technologies remains low overall (44 – 56% not confident, depending on food/technology) though average confidence has risen since 2023. Consumers are most confident about precision fermentation (32.3%) and gene edited fruit and vegetables (30.6%).
Cell cultured/cultivated meat is seen as a complement to, rather than a replacement for, traditional meat. Among the quarter of respondents who said they would eat it, most expect to consume it alongside traditional meat (43 – 44%) or as a partial substitute (41%).

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Sample, methods and survey instrument (PDF 1.2MB).
New and emerging foods and food technologies module (PDF 351KB).

Awareness of new or emerging and/or food technology

Respondents had limited awareness of new foods and technologies, with the proportion of respondents who had never heard of each food/technology assessed ranging from 31 - 53%. Gene-edited fruit or vegetables had the highest rate of awareness, with 8.9% of respondents feeling confident enough to explain them to others, followed by cell-cultured/cell-cultivated meat (6.1%).

Stacked bar chart showing awareness of new food technologies: most respondents have low awareness, with large shares having never heard of each technology (31–53%), while only small proportions can explain them (5–9%), and around one‑quarter to one‑half have heard of them but know little (27–38%). — Respondent awareness of new or emerging food and/or technology

Confidence in the safety of new or emerging food and/or technology

Confidence in new foods and technologies was low overall, with 44 – 56% of respondents selecting confidence ratings below the midpoint of 4 on a 7-point scale for each of the new foods and/or technologies assessed. Consumers were most confident in precision fermentation (32.3% confident) and gene-edited fruit or vegetables (30.6%), and least confident in cell-cultured/cultivated meat (23.1%) and cell-cultured/cultivated dairy (23.7%).

Stacked bar chart showing consumer confidence in new food technologies: most respondents report low confidence (44–57%), particularly for gene‑edited and cell‑cultured products, while smaller proportions feel confident (23–32%), with around one‑fifth neutral (20–23%). — Consumer confidence in new foods and technology. Q: How confident would you be in the safety of the following foods if you saw them for sale in Australian/New Zealand shops and supermarkets? Even if you have never heard of these foods before today, please base your answer on how you would react if you saw it for sale in your local shops or supermarket in [Australia/New Zealand]. 1 “Not confident at all”, 7 = “Completely confident”

Consumption intentions for cell-cultured/cultivated meat

Just over a quarter (25.9%) of respondents said they intended to include cell-cultured/cultivated meat in their diet, 27.7% said that they were unsure, and 46.3% said that they would not.

Consumers’ response to whether they would include cell-cultured/cultivated meat in their diet
	n (%)
Yes	579 (25.9)
No	1,034 (46.3)
Can’t say/don’t know	619 (27.7)

Among those willing to include it (n = 579) the most common intentions were to consume it in addition to traditional meat (43.5%) or as a partial replacement for traditional meat (40.8%). Fewer respondents intended to consume cell-cultured meat as a complete replacement for traditional meat (20%) or plant-based meat (14.5%).

Bar chart showing intended use of cultured meat: most respondents would incorporate it alongside traditional meat (44%) or partly replace traditional meat (41%), while fewer would fully replace meat (20%) or adopt plant-based replacements only (15% each); 5% are unsure. — How respondents intended to include cell-cultured/cultivated meat in their diet (n = 579). *Q: How do you think you would include cell-cultured/cultivated meat in your diet? (Please select all that apply)*

Page last updated: 28 May 2026