Consumer perceptions, preferences, and behavior regarding pasture-raised livestock products: A review

This exploratory pilot study analyzes the influence of organic labeling on the sensory perception of wine, assessing not only overall hedonic rating but specific experiences of different sensory qualities, and addresses the question whether the organic halo effect on hedonic evaluation and purchase intention can be explained by variations in sensory ratings. A sample of 90 consumers took part in a one-way (organic label vs. control), between-groups experimental design comprising a wine tasting task and subsequent evaluation of the wine's sensory properties. All individual tasted the same organic wine. In addition to showing that organic labeling increases hedonic evaluation and purchase intention, results provide evidence that sensory perception changes significantly when a wine carries an organic label, compared with the same wine lacking the organic claim. When labeled organic, the same wine was perceived as having a finer, more intense, more fruity and floral aroma, a more intense, pleasurable and fruity flavor, as well as a smoother texture, and better body. Results further showed that the organic halo effect on hedonic evaluation and purchase intention was totally mediated by increases in sensory ratings and perceived healthiness, providing a process explanation for this effect. Additional evidence points to health concerned individuals being less prone to the organic halo effect.

Practical applications
The finding that consumers not only associate health benefits with organic wine, but that there are expectancy beliefs involved that in addition to increasing hedonic ratings induce a more intense experience of sensory properties, has significant implications for marketers of organic wine and consumer policy aimed at promoting consumption of organic produce. Our findings suggest appealing to these expectations with the use of communicational claims that highlight the sensory experience derived from consuming organic wines. Sensory qualities are particularly relevant for wine, a food product where sensory experiences strongly determine consumer preferences. As our study shows, the positive halo effect that organic labeling has on hedonic evaluation of the wine and purchase intention can be explained by an enhanced sensory experience, particularly taste.

Organic label's halo effect on sensory and hedonic experience of wine: A pilot study

Human perception can depend on how an individual frames information in thought and how information is framed in communication. For example, framing something positively, instead of negatively, can change an individual’s response. This is of relevance to ‘positive animal welfare’, which places greater emphasis on farm animals being provided with opportunities for positive experiences. However, little is known about how this framing of animal welfare may influence the perception of key animal welfare stakeholders. Through a qualitative interview study with farmers and citizens, undertaken in Scotland, UK, this paper explores what positive animal welfare evokes to these key welfare stakeholders and highlights the implications of such internal frames for effectively communicating positive welfare in society. Results indicate that citizens make sense of positive welfare by contrasting positive and negative aspects of welfare, and thus frame it as animals having ‘positive experiences’ or being ‘free from negative experiences’. Farmers draw from their existing frames of animal welfare to frame positive welfare as ‘good husbandry’, ‘proactive welfare improvement’ or the ‘animal’s point of view’. Implications of such internal frames (e.g., the triggering of ‘negative welfare’ associations by the word ‘positive’) for the effective communication of positive welfare are also presented.

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/9/4/147/pdf

Citizens’ and Farmers’ Framing of ‘Positive Animal Welfare’ and the Implications for Framing Positive Welfare in Communication

How does animal welfare taste? Combining sensory and choice experiments to evaluate willingness to pay for animal welfare pork

Nonhuman animal welfare is an increasingly important component of consumer expectations of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The extent to which prominent animal welfare or protection organizations may influence people's perceptions of food industry CSR may be related to an organization's perceived social responsibility. Data from an online survey of 300 U.S. residents were used to explore relationships between demographics/lifestyle choices and perceptions of prominent animal welfare organizations (using best-worst scaling methodology). Overall, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was perceived to be the most socially responsible organization analyzed, followed by the Humane Society of the United States and the American Humane Association (AHA). Results suggest that the perceived social responsibility of animal protection organizations in this study was not strongly linked to personally (financially) supporting them, with 2 exceptions: the perceptions of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and AHA. Improved understanding of the perception of animal welfare or protection organizations can inform decision making by organizations interested in furthering animal welfare causes.

Perceptions of Social Responsibility of Prominent Animal Welfare Groups.

The present study aimed to evaluate whether information about the main aspects related to milk production practices adopted in the two major systems of small ruminant farming (i.e., intensive and semi-extensive rearing systems) can affect consumer acceptability of two different types of goat milk: semi-skimmed and whole milk. Four milk-information combinations were evaluated in two experiments, which differed for the information presentation formats (i.e., textual description versus video with narration). Information about semi-extensive rearing system had a high positive effect on milk liking, especially in video-with-narration condition. Moreover, this information presentation format generated higher hedonic expectations for milk presented as obtained from intensive rearing system than did textual description only. We conclude that information about some farming practices related to milk production may be important for helping consumers to make informed food choices, especially when conveying it by a video-with-narration format.



Practical Applications

The disclosure of information about livestock production practices is important for shortening the distance between those who produce food and their consumers. Illustrating such information may help consumers to understand how food is produced and, hence, to build their trust in food production. Our results show that video with narration seems to be an effective presentation format for conveying such information. In a purchase situation, this may be achieved via the Internet, for instance, by voluntarily printing a matrix barcode on a food label. When scanned by a smartphone, the barcode can direct the smartphone to display a video, text or other information, which may help consumers to make more informed food choices. The adoption of this strategy may contribute to differentiate animal products from farms aimed at boosting their transparency in the global market of food.

Influence of Different Information Presentation Formats on Consumer Acceptability: The Case of Goat Milk Presented as Obtained from Different Rearing Systems

D. Cardinale

Papers

Influence of Different Information Presentation Formats on Consumer Acceptability: The Case of Goat Milk Presented as Obtained from Different Rearing Systems