Consumer preferences for higher welfare and sustainability labelled pig meat in Ireland and the United Kingdom

Purpose Consumers are more conscious of how their food is produced and are concerned about farm animal welfare. This study explores the importance pig meat consumers placed on assurance labels, price and product type. Design/methodology/approach An orthogonal array of nine conceptual products were included in an online survey. Irish (n = 387) and UK (n = 379) consumers rated how likely they would be to purchase each product. Conjoint analysis was performed to estimate the utility and importance of the attributes. Consumer clusters were generated using combined utility estimates for the UK and Ireland. Findings Three consumer clusters were identified; “indifferent” (68%), “like labels” (23%) and “pro pig welfare” (9%) consumers. The clusters were further characterised using other constructs from the survey. “Like labels” and “pro pig welfare” clusters considered welfare to be more of a priority, had a higher “behavioural intention” to purchase higher welfare pig meat products, and had more “knowledge” of pig production. Moreover, consumers in the “like labels” cluster were less likely to perceive any budgetary constraints for purchasing higher welfare products and “pro pig welfare” consumers had a small positive utility for the price attribute. Originality/value These findings indicate a market for higher welfare and potentially other production-related labels on pig meat products in Ireland, where no such scheme currently exists.