Dr. Clara Mehlhose

Dr. Clara Mehlhose is a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Marketing for Food and Agricultural Products at the University of Göttingen. Her research focuses on consumer behaviour in sustainable food systems at the intersection of nutritional economics, consumer research, and consumer policy. A particular focus of her work lies in acceptance research on food innovations and emerging technologies, including alternative proteins, precision fermentation, cellular agriculture, and vertical farming. Her research aims to understand how consumers make decisions in real-life food choice situations and how information, labelling systems, and sustainability aspects shape these processes. Methodologically, Dr. Mehlhose works with a broad range of innovative and real-world-oriented consumer research methods, including virtual reality experiments, mobile eye tracking, consumer neuroscience approaches, and real-world experiments in consumption-related settings. Her work is strongly application-oriented and aims to make scientific insights accessible and relevant for practice, policy, and society.

Research interests:

• Consumer behaviour in food systems
• Acceptance research on food innovations and technologies
• Consumer neuroscience and behavioural economic approaches
• Food marketing and consumer information



Methodological expertise:

• Real-world experiments and field-based study designs
• Innovative consumer research methods (eye tracking, fNIRS, virtual reality)
• Sensory consumer research



Research projects:

Communities on Food Consumer Science (COMFOCUS) (completed)
COMFOCUS brings together, integrates on European scale, and opens up key national and regional research infrastructures in the field of food consumer science to all European researchers. COMFOCUS will provide the academic and private research community with easy virtual and transnational access to high quality services and resources. These are needed to harmonize and professionalize the European food consumer science community and to advance it beyond its current level of fragmentation.
To the Project
Circular and inclusive utilisation of alternative proteins in the mediterranean value chains (CIPROMED) (05/2023-04/2026)
CIPROMED aims to propose alternative protein sources for the Mediterranean food and feed value chain. Particularly, the objective of this PRIMA project is the integration of insect farming and microalgae cultivation in the Mediterranean supply chains, together with the management and valorisation of agri-industrial side-streams, as well as their transformation and fermentative bioconversion into valuable resources. The recovery of ingredients that are based on these natural resource-based substances will be performed through applying cascades of processes enabling the sequential extraction and fermentation of alternative ingredients. The suitability of the new protein ingredients in prototypes of food and feed, will be demonstrated in order to provide validated food and feed products, assured by a systemic LCA-based sustainability assessment. To achieve these goals, CIPROMED aims to adjust novel protein production to the unique Mediterranean conditions, creating a new, socio-economically feasible and environmentally sustainable alternative protein production system located in Mediterranean countries.
To the Project
ZERN = Zukunft der Ernährung in Niedersachsen (06/2024 – 2029)
ZERN is a research network of the University of Göttingen, the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover and the German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL) in Quakenbrück, which aims to support the transformation of the agricultural and food system in Lower Saxony, which is under increasing pressure to adapt. Aspects such as animal welfare and sustainability must be given greater consideration in agricultural production in the future. The findings from the research network should enable the sustainable production, processing and marketing of food.
To the Project (German)



Selected publikations:

• Weiß, I., Teuber, R., Enneking, U., Kircher, C. & Mehlhose (2026). Polychrome versus monochrome Nutri-Score shelf labels: An eye-tracking study of consumer attention and choice. Food Quality and Preference, Volume 143, 105933. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2026.105933

• Simonetti, A., Mehlhose, C., Klink-Lehmann, J., Lemken, D. (2026): Supermarket Settings and Consumer Behavior: A Systematic Mapping Review and Future Research Avenues. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 50, 2: e70196, DOI: 10.1111/ijcs.70196

• Fantechi, T., Risius, A., Contini, C., Reinhardt, C., Mehlhose, C. (2025): From forest immersion to sustainable choices: a systematic approach to the impact of nature exposure on behaviour. Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 133, 146985, ISSN 0959-6526, DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146985

• Kühl, S., Schäfer, A., Kircher, C., Mehlhose, C. (2024): Beyond the cow: Consumer perceptions and information impact on acceptance of precision fermentation-produced cheese in Germany. Future Foods, 10, 100411. DOI: 10.1016/j.fufo.2024.100411

• Mehlhose, C., Risius, A. (2023): Effects of immediate and distant health consequences: different types of health warning messages on sweets affect the purchase probability. BMC Public Health 23, 1892. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-16760-y




Teaching:

• Empirical Methods: Consumer Behavior and Market research (M.Sc.) (since 2023)
• Marketing for food and agricultural products (B.Sc.) (since 2023)