Source:  Dani Friedland, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 10/6/10

Consumers rate the Humane Society of the United States as the most credible source for information about farm animal care.

That finding, along with many others, was announced Wednesday morning here at the Food System Summit, as the Center for Food Integrity’s CEO Charlie Arnot unveiled the results of an annual survey on consumer trust in the food system.

In addition to the 15.88 percent of respondents who think HSUS is the most credible source of information about farm-animal care, 12.32 percent think farm-animal veterinarians are credible sources, followed by 12.02 percent for USDA representatives and 11.47 percent for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Farmers who operate large livestock farms were ranked last, with 5.50 percent.

“The closer you are to a profit motivation, the greater your credibility deficit,” Arnot said.

To determine the rankings, consumers were asked not to rank the sources but instead to specify the most credible and the least credible from a given set.

A statistically significant number of consumers changed their attitudes towards statements such as, “Raising animals indoors is beneficial to the animal,” after reading educational text.

A pool of 2002 respondents took the online surveys in August 2010.

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