Abstract Nowadays, there is a growing interest to add value to food industry by-products and incorporate them as new ingredients for novel food products. However, there is very little knowledge about consumers’ reactions towards novel food products made with upcycled ingredients. This manuscript provides the first critical scientific investigation of UK consumers’ preferences for novel food products made with upcycled ingredients using four attributes: price (£0.40/300 g pack or £1.50/300 g pack), flour (“with wheat flour” or “with upcycled sunflower”), protein (“source of protein” or no information) and Carbon Trust label (“with Carbon Trust label“ or no label). Using a hypothetical ranking experiment involving biscuits, results showed that consumers prefer biscuits made with conventional (i.e., wheat) flour and tend to reject biscuits made with upcycled sunflower flour. Results suggest there is heterogeneity in consumers’ valuation, with three groups identified: the first group with price sensitive consumers and the strongest preferences for low price biscuits, the second group with traditionalist consumers and strongest rejection for upcycled sunflower-flour, the third group with environmentalist consumers and the strongest preference for biscuits with the Carbon Trust label. Most consumers had not heard of upcycled ingredients before, but they would consider buying foods with upcycled ingredients. These findings provide insights into the psychology of consumers’ preferences, which can be used to most effectively communicate the benefits of upcycled ingredients to the public. This will also have important implications for future labelling strategies for policy makers providing valuable insights to upcycled food products’ manufacturers.

中文翻译：

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消费者对升级成分的偏好：饼干案例研究

摘要 如今，人们越来越有兴趣为食品工业副产品增加价值，并将其作为新型食品的新成分。然而，关于消费者对由升级成分制成的新型食品的反应知之甚少。这份手稿首次对英国消费者对使用升级回收原料制成的新型食品的偏好进行了第一次批判性科学研究，该产品使用四个属性：价格（0.40 英镑/300 克包装或 1.50/300 克包装）、面粉（“含小麦粉”或“带有升级的向日葵”）、蛋白质（“蛋白质来源”或无信息）和碳信托标签（“带有碳信托标签”或无标签）。使用涉及饼干的假设排名实验，结果表明消费者更喜欢用传统（即，小麦）面粉，并且倾向于拒绝用升级再循环的向日葵粉制成的饼干。结果表明消费者的估值存在异质性，分为三组：第一组对价格敏感，对低价饼干的偏好最强烈，第二组有传统主义消费者，对升级改造的葵花粉最拒绝，第三组有环保消费者以及对带有碳信托标签的饼干的最强烈偏好。大多数消费者之前没有听说过升级成分，但他们会考虑购买含有升级成分的食品。这些发现提供了对消费者偏好心理的洞察，可用于最有效地向公众传达升级成分的好处。