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Project

Dietary advice on meat and dairy (1920s-2020s): science, confusion, power, and impact (IRP21)

How do policy makers, industries, and their academic partners impact public food choices? Based on an interdisciplinary setup, this broad question will be narrowed down to focus on the nutritional and health aspects of meat and dairy within a specific time window (1920s-2020s), in a mostly Belgian context. By combining nutrition, technology, food history, (social) marketing communication, and consumer sciences, this IRP will unravel the scientific and societal basis underpinning dietary beliefs and practices:
1.PRODUCT - How do scientists come to improved conclusions on nutritional value, within a framework of uncertainty and heterogeneity? As a case study, knowledge gaps related to the nutritional content of meat and dairy products will be filled in analytically, whereby state-of-the-art nutrient analysis will be benchmarked against historical methods. A variety of contemporary and historical recipes, (microbial) processing methods, and products will be explored, with special attention to fermented products. Finally, it will be assessed how substantial these nutrient contents in view of their contribution to the nutritional needs of population groups with diverse needs.
2.POLICY - How are scientific findings translated by policy makers and industry into dietary advice? The content of dietary advice is not necessarily the result of conclusive science but also the outcome of negotiation and conflict between relevant stakeholders. Therefore, this IRP will study historical key moments of change on nutritional advice on dairy and meat (e.g., “drink milk” campaigns and health warnings against saturated fat-containing foods) and the power struggles behind these policy choices.
3.CONSUMER - How does the public respond to dietary advice, particularly by adapting eating habits? To this end, consumer perceptions and attitudes towards food sources and promotion (e.g., front-of-pack labels, public campaigns that either favour or discourage meat and dairy consumption, and manufacturers’ brand advertisements) will be measured. Persuasiveness of drivers of change will be studied, as well as barriers in translating dietary behavioural intentions to actual behaviour.
Date:1 Jan 2023 →  Today
Keywords:Animal source foods, health, processing, dietary discourse, food history, food policy, nutritional science, political economy, food marketing, food consumption, social marketing, transformative consumer research
Disciplines:Food fermentation, Food microbiology, Political history, Marketing communications, Consumer behaviour