UK consumers' willingness to pay for laying hen welfare

Chloe Dunne,Christie Siettou

doi:10.1108/bfj-12-2019-0914

Abstract

PurposeThis study investigates UK consumers’ perception and willingness to pay (WTP) for egg attributes associated with laying hen welfare, namely with beak-trimming practices and injurious feather pecking (IP). The aim is to examine any change in WTP after improved consumer awareness.Design/methodology/approachBuilding upon existing literature, the authors designed an online survey in which the method of discrete choice experiment (DCE) was employed. The study includes two identical DCEs with the second being introduced after respondents were presented with an educational excerpt about beak-trimming practices, on farm IP occurrence and the docile nature of white egg laying hens – reducing IP.FindingsThe mixed logit regression model demonstrated that consumers' WTP for egg attributes associated with beak trimming and IP decreased in the second DCE (12.6% for organic and 2.55% for free-range). For eggshell colour, the analysis revealed a shift from a preference to brown eggs to indifference between eggshell colours.Originality/valueOverall, UK consumers have a preference in higher hen welfare resulting in a decrease in WTP once they are aware of welfare losses in current systems; however, more insights are required in terms of the promotion of white shelled eggs as a means of reducing IP on UK farms.

Highlights

Commercial egg production systems and consumer perception of egg attributes vary globally.Husbandry systems include the production of cage, barn, free-range and organic eggs; of which the dominance greatly varies between countries (Hammeishøj, 2011)
Br this study aims to establish an understanding of current UK consumers’ WTP for egg attributes that are associated with laying hen welfare and, in particular, with injurious feather pecking (IP) occurrence and the absence of beak-trimming practice
Responses Results of significance before and after the educational extract appear to be near identicalsimilar with the exception of the results of eggshell colour. In both oo Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) results the price, the freshness, the production system and the size were found to be statistically significant at the 1% level of statistical significance whereas eggshell colour was dJ

Summary

Introduction

Husbandry systems include the production of cage, barn, free-range and organic eggs; of which the dominance greatly varies between countries (Hammeishøj, 2011). Research has revealed that eggshell colour has no impact on nutritional value or taste; the difference is purely on the pigment deposition on eggs through the hen’s oviduct (Munn, 2013). Much research documents international differences in shell colour production and consumer preference. According to Guyonnet (2012) on the one hand, Europe, Oceania and some parts of Asia, brown eggs dominate, accounting for 100% of consumption in Ireland, Portugal, Thailand and New Zealand and 98% of production in Australia. They reveal that in the Americas, Africa and most of Asia, white shelled eggs dominate, accounting for

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