Immunocastration: Economic implications for the pork supply chain and consumer perception. An assessment of existing research

Abstract

The increasing concern of some market segments for animal welfare has led some companies in the pork supply chain to consider immunocastration as an alternative to surgical castration, which is used to prevent boar taint. The first aim of this analysis was to contribute to the systemisation of the literature about the economic and management aspects as well as consumer perception of immunocastration, and the second aim was to provide recommendations for future research to support policy decision making. Some of the observations from the present study include that on the supply chain side, farmers are very cautious about immunocastration despite the scientific evidence of its efficacy, so they require training in vaccine administration and management support to optimise performance as well as completely transparent information on the economic impact of the technique. Further research into the management and economics of alternative techniques would be useful to help farmers and other supply chain stakeholders make better-informed choices. However, the main concern among farmers is consumer perception, and the information collected to date on consumer perception of immunocastration shows important differences between countries that reflect cross-cultural aspects. Overall, there is low awareness of the issue, and few consumers have heard of the vaccine method. Additionally, information campaigns are likely to be more effective if supplementary audio–visual information is used to show surgical castration of live animals and alternative practices. Current research indicates that three main factors influence consumer WTP in terms of different castration techniques: sensitivity to animal welfare, food quality (taste) and food safety. Research has also yielded somewhat controversial findings suggesting that consumers feel the need to trade off attributes that they believe are incompatible (e.g., taste and animal welfare), so publicity and information campaigns are needed to reduce “conflicts” between product attributes that are important to consumer perception. It is necessary to clearly communicate the impact of immunocastration on price, food safety and taste to consumers, particularly in light of the disproportionally large impact of negative publicity related to food safety issues, but sharing information between different stakeholders is also problematic. While there has already been significant research into this topic, the findings need to be adequately disseminated for all stakeholders to be able to make decisions with full awareness.