TY - GEN

T1 - Consumer preferences for welfare pork - is the interest for tenderloin greater than for minced meat?

AU - Denver, Sigrid

AU - Sandøe, Peter

AU - Christensen, Tove

N1 - Conference code: 12

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - Denmark has among the highest levels of organic consumption in the world when looking at the overall market shares. Nevertheless, the market shares for organic meat and other types of welfare friendly meat are low and animal welfare friendly production systems remain a niche. The main Danish animal welfare organisation, Dyrenes Beskyttelse, owns a label that approves premium levels of animal welfare similar to organic standards for pork, beef and poultry meat productions. Also, meats from production systems that guarantee medium levels of animal welfare are available in the Danish cool counters but these products are not approved by Dyrenes Beskyttelse. Instead, medium level animal welfare pork is marketed under privately owned super market labels. Other countries seem to be successful in using a different strategy where national animal welfare associations approve medium as well as premium levels of animal welfare (Christensen et al., 2014; Heerwagen et al., 2014). The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether there is a potential for increasing the market shares in Denmark for pork associated with medium levels of animal welfare without compromising the markets shares for premium animal welfare pork. Moreover, we investigate whether the interest in welfare meat depends on whether it is considered as a luxury meal or an every-day meal. The analysis is based on a large web-based survey that involves attitudinal questions related to pork production and consumption. Furthermore, a choice experiment is included where the respondents’ preferences for pork originating from animal welfare friendly production systems are elicited. More specifically, the respondents’ willingness to pay (WTP) for improved indoor space for slaughter pigs and for guaranteeing that sows are loose in longer periods of their production cycles were estimated. Random utility theory (McFadden, 1974) was used to estimate respondents’ WTP for medium versus premium levels of animal welfare. Our results indicate that consumers are interested in animal welfare, and that moderate price premiums for medium levelled animal welfare products might attract consumers who would otherwise be inclined to purchase standard products. Labels guaranteeing medium levels of animal welfare may therefore indeed play an important role in promoting higher animal welfare standards. Consumers seem to be more willing to pay a higher price premium for animal welfare in luxury pork such as tenderloin than for every-day pork such as minced meat – but measured in percentages, the WTP are more alike.

AB - Denmark has among the highest levels of organic consumption in the world when looking at the overall market shares. Nevertheless, the market shares for organic meat and other types of welfare friendly meat are low and animal welfare friendly production systems remain a niche. The main Danish animal welfare organisation, Dyrenes Beskyttelse, owns a label that approves premium levels of animal welfare similar to organic standards for pork, beef and poultry meat productions. Also, meats from production systems that guarantee medium levels of animal welfare are available in the Danish cool counters but these products are not approved by Dyrenes Beskyttelse. Instead, medium level animal welfare pork is marketed under privately owned super market labels. Other countries seem to be successful in using a different strategy where national animal welfare associations approve medium as well as premium levels of animal welfare (Christensen et al., 2014; Heerwagen et al., 2014). The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether there is a potential for increasing the market shares in Denmark for pork associated with medium levels of animal welfare without compromising the markets shares for premium animal welfare pork. Moreover, we investigate whether the interest in welfare meat depends on whether it is considered as a luxury meal or an every-day meal. The analysis is based on a large web-based survey that involves attitudinal questions related to pork production and consumption. Furthermore, a choice experiment is included where the respondents’ preferences for pork originating from animal welfare friendly production systems are elicited. More specifically, the respondents’ willingness to pay (WTP) for improved indoor space for slaughter pigs and for guaranteeing that sows are loose in longer periods of their production cycles were estimated. Random utility theory (McFadden, 1974) was used to estimate respondents’ WTP for medium versus premium levels of animal welfare. Our results indicate that consumers are interested in animal welfare, and that moderate price premiums for medium levelled animal welfare products might attract consumers who would otherwise be inclined to purchase standard products. Labels guaranteeing medium levels of animal welfare may therefore indeed play an important role in promoting higher animal welfare standards. Consumers seem to be more willing to pay a higher price premium for animal welfare in luxury pork such as tenderloin than for every-day pork such as minced meat – but measured in percentages, the WTP are more alike.

U2 - 10.3920/978-90-8686-813-1_43

DO - 10.3920/978-90-8686-813-1_43

M3 - Article in proceedings

SN - 978-90-8686-264-1

VL - 1

SP - 289

EP - 294

BT - Know your food

A2 - Dumitras, Diana Elena

A2 - Mugurel Jitea, Ionel

A2 - Aerts, Stef

PB - Wageningen Academic Publishers

CY - Wageningen

T2 - 12th Congress of the European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics

Y2 - 28 May 2015 through 30 May 2015

ER -