Consumer interest in environmental impact, safety, health and animal welfare aspects of modern pig production: Results of a cross-national choice experiment

Are consumers interested in aspects of pig production and do they take these into account in their buying decisions when such information is available? Samples of consumers in Germany and Poland selected the two for them most important out of a list of ten production characteristics, relating to animal welfare, health and safety, and environmental issues. In a subsequent choice experiment, the relative weight these characteristics had in consumers' choices was estimated. Relative importance of production characteristics varied between consumer segments, with the production interested segment being bigger in Germany than in Poland. With the exception of one animal welfare related criterion in Germany, those production characteristics that consumers perceive as most important relate to health and safety aspects rather than to animal welfare and environmental impact.