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This little piggy went to market

Joint research by Teagasc and Queen’s University Belfast suggests that consumers displaying characteristics including a high level of moral responsibility are more likely to buy high-welfare assured pork.

TResearch Autumn 2024

Positive characteristics of higher welfare Irish pork could be included on product packaging to appeal to consumers’ perception of quality. Photo credit: gilaxia/istockphoto.com

Recent studies indicate that consumers are becoming more conscious of how their food is produced and concerned for the welfare of farm animals. More specifically, conventional pig farming has come under scrutiny in recent years due to its intensive nature. Pork and bacon products are a staple part of many Irish people’s diets – consider the full Irish breakfast! However, when purchasing rashers, sausages and black pudding, do consumers consider how these products are produced, and the welfare of the pigs they are made from? Many countries have established higher welfare assurance schemes that communicate the welfare standards on pig farms using product labelling to enable consumers to make informed purchases. Whilst quality assurance labelling exists in Ireland, there is currently no pork product labelling scheme dedicated to higher welfare standards.

Influencing factors

By better understanding what influences consumers’ purchasing decisions, we can identify whether the current market meets the wants of consumers or if there is space for introducing new categories of pork products, explains Teagasc Walsh Scholar Molly Harrison.

“We carried out an online survey to determine if consumers considered pig welfare to be important when purchasing pork, and what factors may influence their decision to purchase high-welfare pork products. The survey was completed by a representative panel of over 800 consumers from Ireland and the UK who regularly purchased pork products.”

As there is a successful and well-established higher-welfare pig assurance scheme in the UK, UK pig meat consumers were included in the survey for comparison, and as a potential future export market. The results from both countries were found to be similar and therefore analysed together.

Using the survey results, the study’s authors were able to categorise consumers as being more or less likely to buy high-welfare assured pork, and explore which influences were most salient in determining their purchase intentions (Figure 1).

TResearch Autumn 2024

Figure 1. Factors that influence consumers with a high intention to purchase higher-welfare pork products compared to consumers with a low intention.

Assessing intentions

Consumers with a high intention to buy higher-welfare pork were more likely to have a stronger sense of moral responsibility as a consumer with regards to the pork products they buy, and also to associate the characteristic ‘higher welfare’ with other positive qualities such as the product being tastier and healthier, Molly explains.

“These consumers also considered pig welfare and local production to be of greater importance compared to consumers who had a lower intention to buy welfare-labelled pork products. In addition, they were also more likely to be influenced by the opinions of family and friends regarding what meat they should buy, and were less likely to think that higher-welfare products were out of their budget.”

Overall, 48% of Irish and UK consumers considered it to be ‘important’ or ‘very important’ to produce pork in a pig-friendly way. When asking consumers to rank eight pork product characteristics from most to least important, some interesting differences were observed between the average ranks, based on the mean scores of consumers with low and high intention to buy high-welfare assured pork (Figure 2).

TResearch Autumn 2024

Figure 2: Compares the mean ranks of eight pork product characteristics in Irish and UK consumers with low and high intention to buy high-welfare pork products.

Molly explains further: “Consumers with a high intention to buy higher-welfare pork more commonly ranked high welfare as the most important characteristic and cheapness as the least important. Whereas for consumers with a low intention, availability where they shop and cheapness were ranked more commonly as the most important characteristics.”

Quality perception

The similarity of results between UK and Irish consumers indicates that the same welfare-assurance products could perform equally well in both markets. Importantly, the survey identified the most influential factors that warrant consideration in marketing higher welfare pork products to enhance the potential for successful introduction in Ireland.

“The positive characteristics of higher-welfare Irish pork could be included on product packaging, and in advertising, to appeal to consumers’ perception of quality and making a morally informed purchase,” Molly concludes.

“Campaigns to increase awareness of the higher-welfare label could increase social influence and encourage pig welfare to be considered as important when selecting pork products.” 

FUNDING

This project was funded by Teagasc’s Walsh Scholarship Programme.

Contributors

Molly Harrison, Walsh Scholar/MPhil Student, Teagasc Moorepark/Queen’s University Belfast.

Sinéad McCarthy, Senior Research Officer, Food Research Centre, Teagasc Ashtown.
sinead.mccarthy@teagasc.ie

Keelin O’Driscoll, Senior Research Officer, Pig Development Department, Teagasc Moorepark.

Niamh O’Connell, Professor of Animal Behaviour and Welfare, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast.