Plant-based meat products are emerging in the marketplace as a protein alternative for consumers. There is consumer misunderstanding of the health benefits of plant-based meat when compared to conventional meat. Prior to this study, research found misinformation does exist surrounding the health benefits of each protein option.

Some research has been conducted on correcting misinformation on social media, but no studies have analyzed how to address this in the context of plant-based meat. This 2x2 factorial design sought to understand the impact of source and message framing to correct misinformation on social media, specifically Twitter.

Qualtrics collected survey responses from a nationally representative sample of 350 participants. Participants were randomly assigned to receive one of five stimuli: control, gain x organization, gain x individual, loss x organization, and loss x individual.

The participants answered 44 pretest question and 55 posttest questions to better understand their social media use, prior knowledge, attitudes, deference to scientific authority, agriculture involvement, cognitive conflict and consumption habits.

This study provided information that misinformation still exists around plantbased meat, and consumers are willing to or already eat the product.

The results of this study indicated that message source and message frame did not impact subdimensions of cognitive conflict when correcting misinformation about plant-based meat. Further discussion and suggestions for future research are provided in the study.