Dissociation is inherent to eating meat. Bacon isn’t pig flesh – it’s pork. Steak isn’t cow meat, but beef. Psychologists refer to this perplexing situation as the meat paradox. Most people care about animals, yet many of those same people also enjoy eating them.
The packaging and labelling of meat is key to persuading people to consume it. In a 2016 study on the meat paradox, participants avoided eating lamb chops when confronted with an image of a fuzzy lamb on the label. The use of animal names – cow and pig, rather than types of meat – had a similar effect.
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Now, in what could create an even deeper chasm between consumer choices and the reality of animal consumption, a U.K. supermarket chain is launching “touch-free” chicken-in-a-pouch on May 3.
After learning that 37 per cent of young cooks prefer not to handle raw meat, Sainsbury’s is rolling out “doypacks”– plastic pouches that don’t require any tactile engagement on the part of the cook.