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New EU regulations require more stringent country-of-origin labeling, while imports of broiler meat from non-EU countries are increasing. In light of these trends, we have studied citizens' and producers' perceptions of broiler meat originating from Belgium versus Brazil and their perception of broiler production in Belgium versus Brazil. A particular focus was the association between country of origin and perceived level of animal welfare. We also investigated the perception of scaling-up and outdoor access in terms of perceived level of animal welfare. Cross-sectional survey data was collected among Flemish citizens (n = 541) and broiler producers (n = 114). In accordance with literature on general farm animal welfare, both stakeholder types claimed to allocate great importance to broiler welfare and generally agreed with the Welfare Quality model of broiler welfare. Citizens disagreed with the producers that 1) consumers are not willing to pay more for higher welfare products, 2) that broilers suffer little, 3) that broiler welfare in current Belgian production units is generally non-problematic, 4) that scaling-up production units would not have a positive impact on profitability nor a profoundly negative impact on broiler welfare, and 5) that the impact of providing broilers with outdoor access is negative for consumers, farmers, and broilers. Country of origin had a strong influence on the perception of both broiler production and broiler meat. Belgian citizens, and producers (much more than citizens) considered nearly all aspects related to broiler production and broiler meat to be significantly superior for chicken produced in Belgium compared to Brazil. Further research should focus on how these perceptions influence purchase intentions and production decisions. Future avenues for research are to quantify market opportunities for country-of-origin labeling and to investigate to which extent stakeholders' perceptions correspond with reality.

Purpose – Experimental auctions are widely used as a non-hypothetical value elicitation method to examine consumer preferences for novel, controversial foods. However, despite its advantages over hypothetical methods, its practice might lead to a wide variety of biases. The purpose of this paper is to provide a list of key cognitive biases and design effects in food auction research and to deliver scientifically underpinned procedures in order to assess, control and reduce them. Its applicability and relevance is examined in auctions on willingness-to-pay for folate (GM) biofortified rice. Design/methodology/approach – Based on auction literature, a list of 18 biases has been developed. Experimental auctions were conducted with 252 women from Shanxi Province, China to test the occurrence of eight biases, while demonstrating measures to reduce the risk of ten biases. Findings – The results lend support for three information-related effects, i.e. confirmation bias, conflicting product information effects and a primacy bias, but not for a multiple-good valuation effect, a panel size effect, a trial winner effect and time-related sampling biases. Furthermore, there are no clear indications of social desirability bias, auction fever and a false consensus effect. Research limitations/implications – This study emphasizes the need to take into account, and measure the risk of various biases when developing, organizing and interpreting experimental auctions. Future research should further extend the list of biases and validate the study findings. Originality/value – By using a highly topical subject, this study is one of the first to address the potential risk of cognitive biases and design effects in experimental (food) auctions.

The aim of this paper is to provide up-to-date information about the status of broiler production in Flanders (the northern region of Belgium) and the opinion of Flemish broiler producers on animal welfare. Our review revealed that intensification of Flemish broiler production has continued, as characterised by a decreasing number of production plants with up-scaled production. Results of a quantitative survey of Flemish broiler producers showed that the typical broiler house is 21 years old and houses 35,000 mixed-sex Ross broilers indoors on wood shavings or straw. The commonly-used modal management implies thinning one-fifth of the flock at the age of 35 days. The remaining broilers are slaughtered when they are 42 days old and weigh an average of 2.4 kg. The median unassisted mortality rate is 2% and another 0.5% are culled. Further scaling-up of production units is not viewed favourably by producers, particularly as related to consumer acceptance. Producers state they place great importance on animal welfare and do not agree that broiler welfare is poor. A small minority of producers plan to invest in improving broiler welfare in the near future. They see few advantages in paying more attention to broiler welfare or providing outdoor access to improve their public image and consumer acceptance. Producers define animal welfare mainly in terms of good health, feeding and housing and consider aspects that relate to the birds’ ability to express appropriate behaviour as less important. We discuss how this concept of ‘animal welfare’ corresponds to that reported by other people with farming backgrounds. Unfortunately this belief contradicts the perception of citizens and consumers and the assumptions underlying the proposed European standards for monitoring farm animal welfare as developed by the Welfare Quality® consortium.

Traditional food products represent a growing segment in the European food market. In order to maintain or expand their market share and profitability, the traditional food sector is also forced to innovate. More than for other food categories, the level of novelty and its conceptualization will be a critical determinant of consumer acceptance of innovations. Based on a pan-European survey (n = 4828), consumer acceptance of innovations in traditional food products has been investigated. Consumer acceptance is linked to the perceived impact of the innovation on the traditional character of the resulting food product. Findings illustrate that consumers are generally open towards innovations in traditional food products. The highest levels of acceptance are found for innovations that reinforce the traditional character of the product (e.g. a label that guarantees the origin of the raw material) or provide benefits from improving negative attributes associated with the traditional character of foods (e.g. the reduction of fat or salt content). The more narrowly consumers define traditional food, the more their acceptance is influenced by the perceived impact of the innovation on the traditional character of the food product. The results demonstrate that the innovations covered in this study would barely succeed in attracting new consumers to traditional foods, while consumers with a medium or high consumption frequency of traditional food products expressed a clear positive acceptance for a wide variety of innovations in traditional foods. The traditional food sector can benefit from the insights provided by this study to customize specific products for specific consumer segments and to communicate and market their products accordingly.

Farm animal welfare in livestock production is a topical and important issue attracting growing interest of policy makers, consumers, stakeholders in the supply chain and others. While there is much public interest in the issue this is not reflected in the supply and market shares of animal food products that are produced under welfare standards that exceed legislative requirements. Given the obstacles to devising stricter legislative standards, higher welfare animal food products are mostly made available through market-based approaches. This paper discusses different challenges and opportunities for a range of public and consumer policies and makes recommendations on how these might be strengthened. The paper does not report primary empirical findings but assembles available knowledge on citizen and consumer attitudes and perceptions towards animal welfare from various research disciplines. We argue that in order for public and consumer policies to be (more) efficient and effective, it is important to develop a segmented and targeted strategy. This paper will thus elaborate on what information could and should be provided to whom. This implies the need for a good understanding of how people conceptualize farm animal welfare. Further, information provisioning should address the needs and expectations of those specific consumer segments most likely to be motivated to purchase higher welfare products. Based on the assembled information, opportunities and challenges for information provisioning and communication to the public and consumers are identified. The merits and limitations of different forms of information provisioning and animal welfare labelling are discussed and recommendations are set forth for future research.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate consumers' perceptions and barriers in relation to fresh, frozen, preserved and ready‐meal fish products in a geographically diverse selection of European countries.Design/methodology/approachCross‐sectional data were collected through a consumer survey (n=3,213), conducted in June 2008 in the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the UK. Items measured were self‐reported consumption frequencies, consumer perceptions of different fish product categories, and perceived barriers for increased fish consumption levels. Country specificities are discussed.FindingsThe overriding healthy perception consumers have about fish was confirmed, and contributed very strongly to the general perception consumers have about fish. Fresh fish was perceived the most healthy fish product, followed by frozen, preserved and ready‐meal fish products. Perception scores were highest correlated with self‐reported fish consumption in the Mediterranean countries. With the exception of Romania, perceived barriers only poorly explained self‐reported consumption frequencies of the different fish product categories. This finding is related to the possible influence of habit and tradition with regard to eating fish, to the absence of measures related to motivations or drivers to consume fish, or to the possibility that some of the perceived barriers reinforce each other. In the Mediterranean countries, fish consumption frequency is on a very high level, independently of perceived barriers and motivational aspects, and part of the traditional Mediterranean diet.Originality/valueThe strength of this study pertains to its international scope and geographical spread. Further, consumer perceptions and perceived barriers in relation to fresh, frozen, preserved and ready‐meal fish products have rarely been studied in parallel. Findings are relevant to support efforts on national and international level to stimulate or modify fish consumption, and to explore opportunities to trade fish products.

Intensive agricultural practices and current western consumption patterns are associated with increased ecological pressure. One way to reduce the ecological impact could be a shift to more sustainable food choices. This study investigates consumer opinions towards a series of food choices with a lower ecological impact. The investigated food choices range from well-known meat substitutes to alternatives which are more radical or innovative and that require an adaptation of food habits and cultural patterns. Results are obtained through a survey among 221 Flemish respondents in Spring 2011. Many consumers underestimate the ecological impact of animal production. Well-known alternatives such as organic meat, moderation of meat consumption and sustainable fish are accepted, although willingness to pay is clearly lower than willingness to consume. Consumers are more reluctant to alternatives that (partly) ban or replace meat in the meal. Opportunities of introducing insects currently appear to be non-existent. Five consumer segments were identified based on self-evaluated ecological footprint and personal relevance of the ecological footprint. The segments were termed Conscious, Active, Unwilling, Ignorant and Uncertain. A profile in terms of demographics, attitudinal and behavioral characteristics is developed for each segments, and conclusions with respect to opportunities for sustainable food choices are discussed.

Increasing fish demand has made aquaculture a necessary complement of fisheries. Consumer acceptance is crucial for market success of aquaculture produce. The present study has investigated the image European consumers have in relation to farmed fish, wild fish, fish as a generic food category and seabass and seabream as the two main cultured species in the European Union (EU). The study aimed to improve current knowledge and bridge geographical gaps with respect to image studies in Europe. In a first exploratory phase, topic-related information was gathered through direct contacts with main stakeholders in different EU countries and through an electronic literature research. In a second phase quantitative descriptive data were collected through cross-sectional consumer surveys in eight EU countries. These were selected to cover the knowledge gaps identified in the exploratory phase, and to cover the different European geographical areas. The country selection was expanded to include the main producer of seabass and seabream, the main importer and some possible target markets. Total sample size was 3,213 respondents. Samples were representative of age and region. European consumers have a very positive image of fish products, especially with respect to its health benefits. Fish origin appeared to be of limited importance; however, wild fish were preferred when compared with farmed fish. Seabass and seabream received positive image scores. Combined with the positive health image of the Mediterranean diet, this could offer marketing opportunities for these fish species.

Stocking density is a prominent topic in public debates on animal welfare and was one of the reasons for the European Commission to set limits to the stocking density on broiler farms. The objective of this paper was to calculate in detail the financial impact of changes in technical and management variables due to decreasing stocking densities in line with new European Union (EU) regulations. Therefore, the productive performance indicators such as BW, mortality, or feed conversion and farm technical data such as water consumption and heating of 3 independent experiments conducted at a poultry research station in Flanders (Belgium) were combined. Using the partial budget technique only those elements that change with stocking density have been taken into account. Reducing stocking density implies a recalculation of all costs on a reduced number of birds. This yields an economic situation that leaves hardly any profit margin for most of the broiler producers under the present market conditions. It was found that the critical threshold of stocking density for maintaining profitability under the present market and technical conditions is around 46 kg/m(2), thus well above the EU maximum of 42 kg/m(2). It is shown, however, that with changing broiler feed and meat prices, the impact might be less negative in economic terms.

This paper studies the image of traditional food at pan-European and national levels in six countries: Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain. A consumer survey about traditional food products (TFP) was conducted. The respondents (n = 4828) indicated their personal general opinion and feelings about TFP and characterised TFP according to 15 intrinsic and extrinsic product attributes. Traditional food is found to have a unanimously positive general image across Europe. The main patterns of product attribute perceptions are coherent in the six countries. The results show that European consumers trade-off the relative expensiveness and time-consuming preparation of traditional food for the specific taste, quality, appearance, nutritional value, healthiness and safety they find in TFP. Further, the general image of TFP relates to attributes typical of a festive consumption of traditional foods rather than a consumption of daily character. The implications of our findings for the future market of traditional food are discussed.

In most European countries, male piglets being reared for meat are physically castrated without anaesthesia in order to avoid boar taint and to safeguard sensory meat quality. This method is increasingly criticised for its violation of piglet welfare. Alternative methods are being researched and castration with anaesthesia or analgesia and vaccination (immunisation) against gonadotropin-releasing hormone (using Improvac (R), Pfizer GmbH) have been proposed as possible solutions. In addition to efficacy, the successful introduction and adoption of the vaccine method by stakeholders in pig supply chains are expected to depend on a favourable reception by consumers. This large-scale quantitative cross-country study (n = 4031) involving representative samples of consumers in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium does not support the reserved attitude of stakeholders who fear potential low market acceptance. The vaccine method was actually preferred by the majority of consumers surveyed (69.6% of the participants) and it was perceived as equally effective in terms of avoiding boar taint; 43.8% of the consumers reported an intention to seek out pork from pigs where the vaccine had been used to control boar taint, whereas 33.7% reported an intention to avoid pork from pigs physically castrated with anaesthesia. Consumers' favourable dispositions to the vaccine method were independent of dominant ethical, health or price orientations when purchasing pork.

This study examines traditional food chain goals and explores the match with general consumer perceptions and preferences in relation to traditional food as a food product category. Chain goals were selected using focus group discussions and in-depth interviews (84 chain members, three European countries, five traditional food categories), as well as a literature review and a small scale survey (26 chain members, three European countries, three traditional food categories). Consumer data was gathered in six European countries via qualitative focus group discussions (95 participants), word association tests (721 participants), and a quantitative survey (4,828 participants). The study identifies five key chain goals: “To maintain traditionalism,” “To increase efficiency,” “To improve responsiveness,” “To improve quality,” and “To create chain balance.” Traditionalism and quality goals were relevant and important to consumers, whereas efficiency, responsiveness, and chain balance goals were not directly recognized by or apparent to them. [EconLit citations: D12; D74; L14]. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Several attempts to conceptualize farm animal welfare have been criticized for diverging reasons, among them often the failure to incorporate the public concern and opinion. This paper’s objective is to develop a conception of farm animal welfare that starts from the public’s perception and integrates the opinion of different stakeholder representatives, thus following a fork-to-farm approach. Four qualitative citizen focus group discussions were used to develop a quantitative questionnaire, which has been completed by a representative sample of Flemish citizens (n = 459). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were applied to develop a conception of farm animal welfare starting from an extended list of aspects that relate to animal production and associate with farm animal welfare in the public’s perception. In depth interviews with stakeholder representatives were used to match and adapt the structure of the animal welfare conception model. The resulting conception revealed seven dimensions grouped in two different levels. Three dimensions were animal-based: “Suffering and Stress,” “Ability to Engage in Natural Behavior,” and “Animal Health.” Four dimensions were resource-based: “Housing and Barn climate,” “Transport and Slaughter,” “Feed and Water,” and “Human-Animal Relationship.” This conception is distinct from earlier attempts since it is based on public perceptions; it addresses the opinion of different stakeholders, and it distinguishes empirically between animal-based and resource-based dimensions in the conceptualization of farm animal welfare. The relevancy of a popular definition is supported by the present demand oriented economy, in which animal welfare is a non-trade concern, and mainly left to the market where consumers still mainly act as individuals who calculate and weigh pros and cons.

Traditional food products are subject to an increased interest in Europe. Innovations, though controversial in the context of traditional food, are essential to maximally cope with this opportunity. So far, only few studies have concentrated on innovation in the traditional food sector. In this paper sector and consumer data are combined in order to validate to what extent innovations in the traditional food sector match with consumers’ acceptance. Sector innovations were explored through 270 interviews, covering 90 traditional food chains in three European countries (Belgium, Italy and Hungary). Consumers’ innovation acceptance was investigated using a quantitative survey approach with 2429 respondents in Belgium, Italy and Poland. In general, both the sector and the consumers were open towards innovations in traditional food products. In addition, the innovation activities of the sector were matching well with the innovations accepted by consumers. Throughout, preserving the traditional character of the food was stressed as a prerequisite for innovations in traditional food products.

PurposeThe paper seeks to provide a picture of the profile of European traditional food consumers (TFC) in terms of their socio‐demographics, attitudes, life‐style orientations and behavioural characteristics.Design/methodology/approachCross‐sectional data were collected through a pan‐European consumer survey (n=4,828) conducted in November and December 2007, with samples representative for gender, age and region, collected from six European countries: Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Poland and Norway. First, information about the consumption of traditional food and the image of a typical TFC was provided through descriptive analysis. Next, the actual characteristics of TFC were assessed using partial least squares regression and these were discussed in the context of the theory of self‐image congruity.FindingsTraditional food consumption patterns are stronger in the south than in the north of Europe. TFC across Europe are typically middle‐aged to elderly, health‐conscious, ethnocentric, food connoisseurs, who are attached to familiarity in their food choices and who very much enjoy cooking.Practical implicationsThe information about the profile, the image and the actual characteristics of TFC has practical implications for marketing and communicating about traditional foods, including their identification, differentiation, research and development and positioning in the European food market.Originality/valueTraditional food is currently undergoing a revival, with increased sales, consumer and regulatory interest. This paper provides cross‐cultural results from a large pan‐European consumer sample that provides highly relevant and useful information about the market potentials of the traditional food industry, which mostly consists of small‐and medium‐sized enterprises. The application of the self‐image congruity theory to validate the results contributes to the originality of the paper.

The Welfare Quality® project has developed an operational definition of farm animal welfare, which consists of 12 criteria grouped into four principles (‘good feeding’, ‘good housing’, ‘good health’ and ‘appropriate behaviour’). As part of a larger survey, 204 farmers, 72 vegetarians, and a representative sample of 459 adult citizens in Flanders (Belgium) scored the importance of each of the 12 criteria on a 1–10 scale, and divided 100 points across the four principles according to the perceived relative weights for farm animal welfare. These data were analysed to verify quantitatively whether (1) the grouping of 12 criteria into the four principles, and (2) the relative weights used by Welfare Quality® for aggregating the 12 criteria into an overall welfare judgement correspond with the perception of these three stakeholder groups from a region and setting not previously covered by Welfare Quality® studies. Moreover, the effects of various socio-demographic variables on the importance allocated to the welfare criteria and principles were investigated. Vegetarians and females gave consistently higher importance scores to all 12 criteria as compared with farmers, citizens and males, respectively, particularly for the (criteria belonging to the) principle ‘appropriate behaviour’. Farmers allocated more weight to ‘good feeding’ than did vegetarians or citizens. These differences confirm that farmers view animal welfare more in terms of biological functioning (instead of affective states or natural living) as compared to other citizens, and vegetarians in particular. As the concept has a different meaning to different people, any operational definition of animal welfare is unlikely to match equally well with the perception of every single stakeholder group or person. The structure of the Welfare Quality® operational definition with the 12 criteria aggregated into four principles, corresponds well with the opinion of the stakeholders as they judged all 12 criteria as rather important to extremely important for farm animal welfare. Factor analysis restricted to contain four factors confirmed the grouping of the criteria into the correct principles. Exploratory factor analysis using Eigenvalues > 1 as extraction criterion indicated, however, that from the citizen perspective two principles (‘good feeding & health’ and ‘appropriate behaviour & housing’) rather than four would suffice. The main discrepancy with the Welfare Quality® approach concerns the aggregation procedure: the stakeholders did not consider all four principles as equally important, and the relative importance allocated to criteria corresponded poorly across principles. Some of these discrepancies were consistent across the three different stakeholder groups.

This study investigated the effect of balanced, nonpersuasive information related to safety, healthiness, and sustainability of aquaculture on the image of farmed fish among European consumers. It was demonstrated that there is neither positive nor negative influence of this type of information on the predominantly positive image of fish from aquaculture. Consumers who were exposed to information related to the EU origin and aquaculture related guarantee reported a more positive image of farmed fish. These results provide valuable input for transparent communication about fish farming practices which might increase consumer trust and will not harm the image of fish from aquaculture. Increasing consumers' knowledge about aquaculture and its positive effects on the image of farmed fish is also discussed as a pathway for maintaining and improving aquaculture's positive image in the future.

International audience; A total of 721 consumers were interviewed in order to obtain and compare consumer-driven associations to the word ‘‘Traditional”, in a food context, in six European regions. Participants, who were individually interviewed, had to state the first words that came into their mind when the word ‘‘Traditional” was verbally presented. Frequencies of occurrence of associations were obtained and analysed by means of simple correspondence analysis. The different word associations obtained were classified in 55 classes and then grouped in ten principal dimensions by triangulation. In general, southern European regions tended to associate the concept of ‘‘Traditional” more frequently with broad concepts such as heritage, culture or history. Central and Nordic European regions tended to focus mainly on practical issues such as convenience, health or appropriateness. As a final outcome of the analyses, a consensus conceptual map of traditional food products was obtained. The empirical findings of this qualitative exploratory free word association test provide valuable insights for product positioning, innovation and new developments in the traditional food market.

The results of two independent empirical studies with Flemish citizens were combined to address the problem of a short fall of information provision about higher welfare products. The research objectives were (1) to improve our understanding of how citizens conceptualize farm animal welfare, (2) to analyze the variety in the claimed personal relevance of animal welfare in the food purchasing decision process, and (3) to find out people’s needs in relation to product information about animal welfare and the extent to which the current information caters to these needs. The first study consisted of a survey conducted in three consecutive years (2000–2002, n = 521) and was complemented with more recent qualitative data from four focus group discussions (2006, n = 29). Citizens’ conceptualization of farm animal welfare matched reasonably well with those in the scientific literature, although it is clearly influenced by a lower level of practical experience and a higher weight of empathy. In general, respondents indicated that animal welfare was an important product attribute, although it was less important than primary product attributes such as quality, health, and safety. Moral issues, rather than a perception of higher quality, were the main influence on preferences for higher welfare products. At present, higher standards of animal welfare are mostly guaranteed within more general quality assurance schemes. Yet people’s decisions to not choose higher welfare products seems to be related to the perceptual disconnection between eating animal food products and the living producing animals. Respondents generally thought better information provision was required and the present level of provision was strongly criticized. In combination, the findings of both studies help inform the discussion about how citizens can be informed about animal welfare and the preferred content, source, and medium of such information. The paper also provides insights into citizens’ semantic interpretation of the concept of animal welfare (what wordings they use) and the range of relevance that animal welfare has for different groups that, in turn is useful in identifying which segments can be targeted. This can contribute to a more effective valorization of animal welfare as a product attribute.

A substantial number of studies has already investigated differences within the consumer market with regard to attitudes and perceptions in relation to farm animal welfare. Likewise, several studies focused on the gap that exists between positive attitudes and reported consumption or purchase intentions for sustainable food products in general and higher welfare products more specific, and on the factors influencing this attitude-behavior gap. Little or no studies, however, have started from reported pro-welfare behavior to distinguish between consumer groups and to explore the motivations of the respective behavior. With this study, we aim to group consumers according to their reported buying frequency of higher welfare eggs and higher welfare chicken meat. Similarities and dissimilarities between these groups are mapped in terms of individual characteristics, product attribute importance, perceived consumer effectiveness, perception of higher welfare products, and attitude toward a welfare label. The research methodology applied was a quantitative study with cross-sectional consumer survey data collected in Flanders in spring 2007 (n = 469). Pro-welfare behavior was unevenly distributed across different consumer segments, despite a general interest and concern for bird welfare. A consistent choice for standard (no welfare premium) poultry products was related to strong perceived price and availability barriers, to a low importance attached to ethical issues as product attributes, and to a low perceived consumer effectiveness. A consistent choice for products with higher welfare standards to the contrast associated with a high importance attached to ethical issues; a low effect of price and availability perception; a strong association of higher welfare products with product attributes like health, taste, and quality; and a high perceived consumer effectiveness. The identification of market segments with common characteristics is essential for positioning higher welfare products and developing effective communication strategies. Finally, a welfare label emerged as an appropriate communication vehicle for consumers who engage in pro-welfare behavior and who experienced the label as a solution to lower the search costs for higher welfare products.

This study investigates the association between traditional food consumption and motives for food choice in six European countries. Cross-sectional data were collected through the TRUEFOOD pan-European consumer survey (n = 4828) with samples representative for age, gender and region in Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain. Importance attached to familiarity with a product is found to be strongly and positively associated with general attitude toward traditional food as well as traditional food consumption. The importance attached to convenience was negatively related to both general attitude toward traditional food and traditional food consumption, while the importance of weight control negatively influenced the general attitude. Natural content of food was positively associated with the attitude toward traditional food and traditional food consumption. The importance of price when purchasing food failed to be significantly related with general attitude and traditional food consumption both for the pooled sample as well as within each country except in Spain. The proposed model contributes to a better understanding of factors shaping the image and influencing the consumption of traditional foods in Europe. General attitude toward traditional foods, familiarity, and importance of food naturalness emerged as drivers for traditional food consumption. Importance attached to convenience and health acted as direct barriers to traditional food consumption, whereas importance of weight control emerged as an indirect barrier through lowering general attitude toward traditional foods.

Farm animal welfare has become increasingly important and relevant from the societal point of view throughout the livestock production chain, with space allowance for farm animals being one of its most topical and vividly debated sub-matters. Anticipating on the increasing power of the citizens' voice in Western society, this study focuses on societal concerns related to space allowance in Flemish animal production. This paper reports a quantitative analysis of cross-sectional surveys conducted among citizens of Flanders during 2000–2002 (n = 521) and during 2006 (n = 459). Compared with other animal welfare aspects, the survey participants perceived stocking densities and pen sizes as very essential for attaining an acceptable level of farm animal welfare. In addition, they evaluated stocking densities and pen sizes in current Flemish animal production as inadequate. Combined these results indicate that societal concern, defined as the difference between perceived importance and evaluative belief, is very high for stocking density and pen size, though less for group size. Societal concern about stocking density was found to be higher among younger people and households without children, while societal concern was not significantly associated with living environment (rural versus urban). Gender (higher concern among women in dataset 2006) and educational (higher concern among higher educated people in dataset 2000–2002) differences were not consistently significant in all datasets. The findings from this study suggest that larger gains in terms of animal welfare image among the public can be realised from providing farm animals with more space relative to reducing animal group size.

International audience; Traditional food products (TFP) are an important part of European culture, identity, and heritage. In order to maintain and expand the market share of TFP, further improvement in safety, health, or convenience is needed by means of different innovations. The aim of this study was to obtain a consumer-driven definition for the concept of TFP and innovation and to compare these across six European countries (Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain) by means of semantic and textual statistical analyses. Twelve focus groups were performed, two per country, under similar conditions. The transcriptions obtained were submitted to an ordinary semantic analysis and to a textual statistical analysis using the software ALCESTE. Four main dimensions were identified for the concept of TFP: habit-natural, origin-locality, processing-elaboration and sensory properties. Five dimensions emerged around the concept of innovation: novelty-change, variety, processing-technology, origin-ethnicity and convenience. TFP were similarly perceived in the countries analysed, while some differences were detected for the concept of innovation. Semantic and statistical analyses of the focus groups led to similar results for both concepts. In some cases and according to the consumers’ point of view the application of innovations may damage the traditional character of TFP.

Animal welfare is of increasing importance in livestock production and consumption debates. However, discordance exists between citizens' and farmers' perception of animal welfare. Since the search for, and the realization of improvements towards farm animal welfare is strongly driven by citizen expectations, it is of utmost importance to better understand this perceptual discordance. A quantitative study was done in Flanders, Belgium during 2006, including citizens as well as farmers, to obtain a detailed insight in the way the multi-dimensional concept of farm animal welfare is valued. This allowed to discriminate between issues of agreement and disagreement. In general, a similar interpretation of farm animal welfare in terms of animal welfare related aspect's ranking was found. Differences were mainly related to aspects dealing with the ability to engage in natural behaviour on the one hand and with production process-related aspects on the other hand. Citizens evaluate the current state of animal welfare as rather problematic, while farmers report a more satisfactory evaluation of the present condition of farm animal welfare. Especially differing opinions regarding the ability to engage in natural behaviour, together with aspects related to pain, stress and the availability of space seem to contribute to the discordance between farmers and citizens in terms of evaluative beliefs.

This chapter presents how European consumers define and perceive traditional foods based on consumer research performed within the EU-funded project Truefood. The insights were obtained through focus group studies, free word association tests, and cross-European quantitative consumer surveys. Consumers’ definition of traditional foods refers primarily to eating habits, naturalness, heritage, taste, and locality. Traditional foods have an overall positive image among European consumers, which provides an ideal basis to capitalize on future product development, market positioning, and marketing communication.

This study evaluates the influence of practical experience with alternatives for surgical castration (SC) on farmer attitudes. Nineteen farmers in Flanders were surveyed before (ex-ante) and after (ex-post) performing each of five treatments on farm: 1) SC with analgesia (SCAN); 2) SC with CO2 anaesthesia (SCCO2); 3) immunocastration (IM); 4) production of entire males (EM); and 5) SC without pain relief (SCN). For SCCO2 and SCAN, farmers mainly experienced disadvantages in terms of increased labour, costs and complexity. Hands-on experience promoted EMas a valid alternative for SCN due to the actual and perceived improvement in performance and profitability as well as the reduced labour demands. Experience with IM did not fully fulfil the favourable ex-ante expectations resulting in a level of dissatisfaction and a less favourable general attitude ex-post.

Pork consumers know little about boar taint and the methods used to avoid it. As such, relevant information is necessary to assist consumers to judge the acceptability of different strategies to avoid boar taint. The effect of basic (T1) or extensive (T2) written information or T2 with supplementary audio–visual information (AV) on the opinion concerning immunocastration (IC), raising entire male pigs (EM) and surgical castration with anaesthesia (SA) as compared to castration without anaesthesia (SC) was investigated in a student population. Overall, IC was significantly preferred over SC. The information condition influenced the preference for IC and EM as compared to SC. Participants exposed to AV were more positive to IC than participants exposed to T1 and T2, and more positive to EM than participants exposed to T2. The impact of information condition was not affected by gender, farming experience, knowledge about the boar taint issue or personal relevance of pig welfare. Potential effects of providing background information and media campaigns on public surveys ought to be considered. Supplementary audio–visual information increased the impact of information provisioning.

Seafood represents a natural source of valuable nutrients (e.g., long chain omega-3 poly-unsaturated fatty acids (LC n-3 PUFAs), vitamin D, and iodine), but the favourable health perception is troubled by the presence of contaminants (e.g., PCBs, dioxin-like compounds, and (methyl) mercury (MeHg)). This dualism forms the basis for an important public health conflict. The objective of this study was to calculate and evaluate the simultaneous intake of multiple beneficial and harmful compounds (LC n-3 PUFAs, vitamin D, iodine, (Me)Hg, PCBs, and dioxin-like compounds) via seafood consumption in Belgium. A methodology and a software module were developed for executing probabilistic assessments of the simultaneous intake of multiple compounds leading to better insight in the problematic nature of food items involving both health benefits and risks. The simulations concerning seafood consumption in Belgium predicted that, as far as only seafood consumption is concerned, the considered populations do not reach a sufficiently high intake for the three nutrients considered (LC n-3 PUFAs, vitamin D, and iodine). Regarding the contaminants, (Me)Hg contamination of seafood on the Belgian market does not seem to be an issue of major toxicological concern. In contrast, for dioxin-like compounds the tolerable daily intake is reached by people with high seafood consumption.