**1. Introduction**

Meat, as well as meat products, is an important component of a typical western diet and is consumed almost every day by some people. Although they provide essential amino acids, vitamins (mainly B12), and minerals (mainly iron and zinc) needed for the body, meat products, especially red and processed ones, may increase the risk of chronic diseases typical in developed countries (e.g., cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and some cancers), as well as general mortality, when consumed in excessive amounts [1].

The role of meat and meat products in the consumer lifestyle is influenced by various factors, such as socioeconomic determinants, traditions, perceived ethics, and religious beliefs [2]. Many studies have discussed consumers' attitudes toward meat and meat products [3,4], with increasing attention paid to the unsustainable consumption of meat and meat-derived saturated fats [5].

Nevertheless, the necessity of a transition toward more sustainable meat consumption is emphasized by nutritionists and dietitians for promoting health-related values [6]. Provision of moderate amounts of protein, from moderate proportions of meat, eggs, and dairy products, is indicated as one of the characteristics of a well-balanced diet [7]. Taking into account that Western diets often include food products of animal origin [8], reducing the intake of red and processed meat can be beneficial to both health and the environment [9].

On the one hand, plant-based products are considered as substitutes for meat, but on the other hand, less-but-better meat products are more suitable for consumers [10], as vegetarian diets may not be preferred by a majority of the population [11] and may be treated as too radical [5]. Therefore, adding more health-promoting components to meat-based food products and improving their nutritional value can be an effective strategy for reducing the intake of other meat products. This is not only due to the fact that health benefits are given more importance by consumers than environmental concerns [12] but also because a sustainable and moderate consumption of meat products is necessary.

Nowadays, consumers choose food products that satisfy their hunger as well as prevent diet-related diseases. The food market, especially the meat market, is currently undergoing many changes, and as a result, new meat products with health-promoting components appear, which are acceptable [13]. Functional foods, including meat products, providing additional health benefits [14] have been studied by many researchers, but consumer attitudes and behaviors toward such products remain a question [15–17].

There are three main types of factors affecting consumer behaviors—individual factors (psychological aspects), product-specific factors, and marketing factors [2]. Among the product-specific sensory factors, the most important ones are quality and sensory features, such as visual appearance, texture, flavor, and taste [18].

To obtain novel functional meat and meat products that have health-promoting properties, one of the two main approaches are used: (1) enhancing or (2) reducing the share of some components. The health-promoting components incorporated into food products of animal origin may be added either to animal fodder or directly to the product during the production process, while reducing the share of other components. However, consumers have a common assumption that all the additives added to the products are "bad" [19]. This belief is prevalent in spite of the fact that labeling food products with information about the additive, including its name and function, is mandatory, as well as that only EU-approved additives may be used in food products according to legal regulations [20]. Although labeling of food products does not change their sensory features, it could be valuable in terms of influencing consumers' opinion about the health-promoting attributes of such products [21].

Therefore, the so-called "feed-to-food" approach (adding bioactive compounds to fodder, rather than to the product) seems to be a promising direction for improving the quality of animal-based food products to increase consumer acceptability [22,23]. However, adding bioactive components directly to products may be easier for producers. Taking this into account, an important task is to keep the initial features of a product intact [24] and sustain them during storage [25].

For maintaining the nutritional value and sensory features of animal-based food products, some advances are made in the form of novel packaging systems, which are divided into two main categories—active and intelligent packaging [26]. Although these types of packaging have

existed on the market for quite some time, some consumers do not know and are still worried that innovative packaging might mislead them to buy spoiled food [27]. However, packaging may influence the consumers' color perception of meat. As color is a major determinant of meat quality [28], various packaging systems may allow the meeting of the real market demands, providing products that may be accepted by consumers.

The present study aimed to analyze the association between consumers' perception of food quality and their acceptance of enhanced meat products and novel packaging.
