Another study whose data raises eyebrows — shocking. Not!

And this one disappoints me mostly because underlying results tracking university students' embrace of plant-based v. conventional meat dishes has much to offer both sides of the protein industry. Nevertheless, the PR and the resulting media coverage cherry-picked the data to the extent that some of the most useful information was completely overlooked.

The study was conducted by Sodexo Campus in coordination with two other organizations, the nonprofit Food for Climate League (FCL) and the think tank Better Food Foundation (BFF). Those three organizations collaborated with Tulane, Lehigh and Rensselaer Polytechnic to run an experiment in which a dish was offered to students in both a meat and a plant-based (no animal proteins) version at lunchtime at one of the school's all-you-can-eat dining locations.

Eight pairs of dishes were tested over 35 lunch periods at the three schools. One test pairing, for example, was Roasted Sesame Ginger Tofu Tikka Masala and Chicken Tikka Masala.

On "control days" both dishes were presented side-by-side. On "plant default" day, only the plant-based dish was easily visible to customers, although information about a meat-based option was available.

"And the results were dramatic as 81% of students chose plant-based entrées when they were available as the default option," crowed one story written about the survey results.

Eeehhhh, not exactly. The students were strongly pushed to give the results Sodexo and the organizations wanted. For example, you can see the set-up of a "plant default" day below, at Tulane University:

The only hint that there is a meat option available is that little card in the lower right-hand corner.

To be fair, the "meat is available" notice was more prominent in the photos taken at Lehigh and RPI (as seen in the report itself) but in any case, students preferring a meat-based meal would have had to take several additional steps, both cognitively and physically, to get it. Most test subjects opt not to do that regardless of the study or circumstances, a twist on the data of which researchers are well aware.

So, that 81% is indicative of human nature — not a pathway to a wholesale change in consumer behavior. More telling is the fact that on "control days" when students had an equally presented, side-by-side choice, 73.1% of students opted for the meat. Across all three schools, on "plant default" days, 57.6% of the dishes served were plant-based.

Which is to say, the 81% figure only reflects the results at Tulane and Lehigh; RPI's data was backed out due to "implementation inconsistencies" in the test itself, the report said. One of the inconsistencies is simply that most of RPI's students are male.

Furthermore, the media coverage of the report skipped right over a central, fundamental data point: On "plant default" days, the station where the test was being implemented served 26.3% fewer dishes overall. More than one-quarter of the target consumers, when faced with a non-meat choice as a (strong) default, took their business to some other part of the cafeteria altogether — presumably, as the study's executive summary clearly notes, to get a meat-related dish.

Quite a long ways from the conclusion that 81% of university students readily embrace plant-based dishes if only given a little shove in that direction.

But note this: The plant-based options proved incredibly popular even without the selective reporting of the data. Even when a meat choice was right in front of them, more than a quarter of diners selected the plant-based option. Even after accounting for the decrease in dishes served overall on "plant default" days, something like 43% of meals served were plant-based.

And that is valuable information whether you're Team Plant-based or Team Animal Protein.

Don't you believe it

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