A new PhD project at the University of Copenhagen is investigating consumer acceptance of hybrid foods made from dairy by-products and plant-based ingredients.

A new consumer survey aims to shed light on how consumers perceive so-called hybrid foods – products that combine plant-based ingredients with by-products from dairy processing.

The survey is part of the BoostDairy PhD project at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Food Science, partly funded by the Danish Milk Levy Fund. The project aims to better understand how consumers perceive hybrid food products and what influences their acceptance.

“Understanding consumer views is essential if we want sustainable food innovations to succeed in practice. It is not enough to develop new products, we also need to know how people respond to them, what concerns they may have, and what makes them acceptable in everyday life”, says Aikaterini (Katerina) Andreou, PhD student at the Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen.

All adult consumers (18+) are welcome to participate, regardless of background. The survey is anonymous, takes 10–15 minutes to complete, and is available in seven languages: English, Danish, Greek, German, Italian, Spanish, and French.

Responses are being collected until 30 April 2026.

Take the survey HERE.

By Maja Løvstrup
Photo: Sergey Zolkin, Unsplash