Animal welfare is among the top priorities for shoppers purchasing meat and dairy products, according to a new study published in the Food Quality and Preference journal.
The study, Consumers across five European countries prioritise animal welfare above environmental sustainability when buying meat and dairy products, surveyed consumers in Czechia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, assessing the attributes that were most important to shoppers in the meat and dairy categories.
Key attributes
‘This research […] aimed to identify the attributes that are most important for consumers when buying meat or dairy products and the perceived helpfulness of sustainability labels for meat and dairy products and important label properties,’ the study put it.
While environmental factors such as food miles, carbon footprint and organic production were considered important, taste, quality and animal welfare were among the top considerations, the study found.
A total of 18 different factors were assessed, with the 3,192 participants asked to rate each on a scale from 1 (not at all important) to 5 (extremely important).
‘Complex interplay of factors’
“Our study highlights the complex interplay of factors that influence consumer behavior when buying meat and dairy products,” commented Dr. Andy Jin, senior lecturer in risk management at the Faculty of Business and Law at the University of Portsmouth, and a co-author of the study. “Consumers indicated that information related to animal welfare, food safety, and health and nutrition was considered more important than environmental sustainability when making food choices.
“The findings demonstrate the importance of labelling strategies that encompass multiple aspects of product attributes, beyond environmental considerations alone.”
Jin added that labelling alone is generally not enough to change consumer behaviour, and encouraged the findings of the study to be translated into potential policy measures, making it easier for shoppers to choose more sustainably-produced products.
The study was conducted by the universities of Portsmouth and Newcastle in the UK, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, University of Córdoba in Spain, Mendel University in Czech Republic and Agroscope in Switzerland.
The full report can be found here.
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