The impact of information about animal husbandry systems on consumers’ choice of meat products in a virtual supermarket

Abstract

Farm animal welfare has become a frequently discussed issue. However, the consumption of animal-friendly products remains a small part of total meat consumption. This study investigated whether providing consumers with more detailed information about animal husbandry systems could influence their product choices at a virtual supermarket. Participants (N = 124) were randomly assigned to one of three experiment conditions, which differed in terms of the information provided: 1) only animal-welfare label (control condition), 2) animal-welfare label and a positive video describing an organic animal husbandry system (AHS) (positive video condition), and 3) animal-welfare label, a positive video, and a negative video describing a conventional AHS (positive & negative video condition). In all conditions, participants needed to select an ingredient for a curry dish from three presented products, i.e., a conventional chicken breast, an organic chicken breast, and a plant-based meat alternative that looks like chicken meat. The results indicated that participants’ product choices were not significantly different between the three conditions. As shown by eye-tracking data, participants paid little attention to the animal-welfare-related information. Price was the most important information for participants’ purchasing choices. Also, participants’ meat-eating justification (MEJ) strategies were negatively correlated with their choice of products produced with higher animal-welfare standards. These results illustrate that providing more information about animal-welfare or the conditions under which animals are farmed alone is not enough to induce significant changes of consumers’ meat shopping behavior. The price of the products and participants’ MEJ strategies play important roles in consumers’ purchase decisions.