Farm animal welfare in livestock production is a topical and important issue attracting growing interest of policy makers, consumers, stakeholders in the supply chain and others. While there is much public interest in the issue this is not reflected in the supply and market shares of animal food products that are produced under welfare standards that exceed legislative requirements. Given the obstacles to devising stricter legislative standards, higher welfare animal food products are mostly made available through market-based approaches. This paper discusses different challenges and opportunities for a range of public and consumer policies and makes recommendations on how these might be strengthened. The paper does not report primary empirical findings but assembles available knowledge on citizen and consumer attitudes and perceptions towards animal welfare from various research disciplines. We argue that in order for public and consumer policies to be (more) efficient and effective, it is important to develop a segmented and targeted strategy. This paper will thus elaborate on what information could and should be provided to whom. This implies the need for a good understanding of how people conceptualize farm animal welfare. Further, information provisioning should address the needs and expectations of those specific consumer segments most likely to be motivated to purchase higher welfare products. Based on the assembled information, opportunities and challenges for information provisioning and communication to the public and consumers are identified. The merits and limitations of different forms of information provisioning and animal welfare labelling are discussed and recommendations are set forth for future research.

Public and Consumer Policies for Higher Welfare Food Products: Challenges and Opportunities

Buying higher welfare poultry products? Profiling Flemish consumers who do and do not

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Integration and self regulation of quality management in Dutch agri-food supply chains : a cross-chain analysis of the poultry meat, the fruit and vegetable and the flower and potted plant chains

Selection of critical factors for identifying emerging food safety risks in dynamic food production chains

Multi-stakeholder support is crucial to chain parties delivering against the (latent) demand and consumption of animal-friendly products. Actors take an ambiguous position in dealing with the issue of animal welfare improvements, partly because such improvements deviate from the dominant business model aimed at efficient delivery to export markets. This makes multi-stakeholder dialogues an important factor in channelling the issue of animal welfare and, ultimately, in migrating towards more animal-friendly production systems. This paper studies the dynamics in the chain - including lock-ins and barriers - through which the Dutch livestock sector searches for a new equilibrium with society; in this case, through the development of an in-between segment. This analysis improves our understanding of how transitions work on sustainability issues in the agriculture sector. Developing an in-between segment for animal friendly production requires many small steps and stakeholder interactions and the creation of a...

The livestock sector and its stakeholders in the search to meet the animal welfare requirements of society

LNV wil het proces van dierenwelzijnsverbetering in de veehouderij tot een bovenwettelijk niveau stimuleren en ondersteunen met onderzoek waarin de dierenwelzijnsindex centraal staat. Dit rapport bespreekt verschillende thema's rond de implementatie van die dierenwelzijnsindex. De implementatie van de index wordt gezien binnen de structurele ontwikkeling naar een meer duurzame veehouderij. Specifiek is er in het rapport aandacht voor gedragscodeorganisaties, dierenbeschermingsgroepen, meerkosten van dierenwelzijnsmaatregelen en financiele beleidsinstrumenten. Tevens wordt er een 'doorkijk' geformuleerd naar de implementatie van de index.

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Dierenwelzijn in transitie; Thema's rond de implementatie van de dierenwelzijnsindex

Dit rapport bevat in het eerste deel het resultaat van een studie naar de opvattingen van con-sumenten over dierenwelzijn en de rol die dit aspect speelt bij hun koopbeslissingen. In het tweede deel wordt ingegaan op de strategieen van detaillisten en de rol die dierenwelzijn in Nederlandse en Europese supermarkten speelt. Het derde en laatste deel heeft betrekking op de wensen en invloed van belangenorganisaties (dierenbescherming en Europese consumen-tenorganisatie BEUC) ten aanzien van dierenwelzijn. In the first part, this report describes the results of research into the opinions of consumers about animal welfare and the role this plays in their purchasing decisions. In the second part, the strategies of retailers and the role animal welfare plays in the Dutch and European super-markets are explored. The third and final part covers the wishes and influence of interest groups (animal protection societies and the European consumer organisation BEUC) concern-ing animal welfare

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Dierenwelzijn in de markt : een drieluik van consumenten, retailers en belangenorganisaties in Europa

This AFSG, RIKILT and LEI report reviews legislation and private quality control systems related to food safety. For the IKB Pigs case, it then investigates which legal requirements are also incorporated in this private regulation. The report further describes how compli-ance with this system is safeguarded in practice. Finally, in relation to 'Audit Monitoring', several conclusions and recommendations are made.

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Voedselveiligheid, ketens en toezicht op controle

In dit rapport van Agrotechnology & Food Innovations, Rikilt en het LEI wordt ingegaan op de factoren die van invloed zijn op de veiligheid van voedingsmiddelen. Deze factoren zijn onderverdeeld in twee hoofdgroepen, namelijk productaspecten en bedrijfsaspecten. Bij deze laatste zijn ook opgenomen de relevante aspecten uit de omgeving van het bedrijf, zoals de relaties met leveranciers en afnemers. Met behulp van deze aspecten zijn de hoofdgroepen van de CBL-indeling van levensmiddelen op kwalitatieve wijze ingedeeld naar de mate van risico voor voedselveiligheid. This report by Agrotechnology & Food Innovations, Rikilt and LEI looks at the factors that influence the safety of foodstuffs. These factors are subdivided into two main groups: product aspects and farm aspects. The latter also includes the relevant aspects from the farm's environment, such as the relationships with suppliers and buyers. With the aid of these aspects, the main groups of the CBL classification of foodstuffs are divided on the basis of quality according to the risk in terms of food safety.

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Factoren van invloed op voedselveiligheid

Een verbetering van het dierenwelzijn in de veehouderij moet door de werking van de markt tot stand komen. Een zogenoemde dierenwelzijnsindex kan erbij helpen om de mate van dierenwelzijn naar de consument te communiceren

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J.J. de Vlieger

Papers

Dierenwelzijn in transitie; Thema's rond de implementatie van de dierenwelzijnsindex

Dierenwelzijn in de markt : een drieluik van consumenten, retailers en belangenorganisaties in Europa

Voedselveiligheid, ketens en toezicht op controle

Factoren van invloed op voedselveiligheid

Dierenwelzijn in de markt