Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 3/25/16


Get this: Only 25 percent of U.S. consumers believe firmly that the meat, milk and eggs that they buy are derived from animals that are humanely treated.

This, according to new research by the Center for Food Integrity (CFI) underscoring a growing gap between consumers and the farm — and the need for food producers to provide more information about their animal care efforts in order to build trust in the food system. 

In a webinar held Thursday, Donna Moenning, senior program manager for CFI, highlighted the findings of 2015 research from a survey of 2,001 U.S. consumers — moms, foodies and millenials — exploring the role transparency plays in consumer trust in those charged with producing their food.

Bottom line: Consumers want their meat, milk and eggs from humanely treated animals and “transparency is no longer optional,” she said.

Specifically, 56 percent believe transparency with regard to treatment of animals does build trust, the study found.

Among  six topics — food safety, business ethics, impact of food on health, animal well being, labor and human rights, and environmental impact — animal well being practices were the most predictive of global transparency, Moenning noted.

CFI evaluated four indicators or activities of transparency:
• Policies — what a company is supposed to do via regulations, standards
• Practices — what a company’s actions are and how they demonstrate values
• Performance — a track record of what the company does and results
• Verification — outside validation, in many cases by third-party audits 

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Based on consumer feedback, of utmost importance was the ability to see a company’s or farmer’s practices, such as videos that describe how animal handlers are trained and demonstrate that they share consumers’ concern for animal well being.

Making available a summary of audits helps as well.

“It’s one thing to have a policy, but your practices — especially illustrative practices — help drive trust,” Moenning said, emphasizing that communicating shared values with consumers is more important — as much as 5 percent more important — than just communicating scientific facts.

When asked where information on animal well being should be made available, 39 percent said independent third-party websites, 35 percent said food company websites, 19 percent said on food product packaging, and the remainder said QR codes on packaging.

Asked to allocate 100 points to place responsibility for the information, food companies (49) received the most, followed by farmers (30), grocery stores (11) and restaurants (10).

Moenning said that allocation demonstrates the gap between consumers and farmers. Consumers place more responsibility on food companies, which they more closely associate with the production of their proteins.  

She said food companies, farmers and livestock associations need to join in an effort to communicate animal care best practices and how those practices are verified.

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