Swedish Consumer Preferences for Animal Welfare and Biotech: A Choice Experiment

Means-end chain theory (e.g., Gutman, 1982) and the theory of planned behavior (e.g., Ajzen, 1991) suggest that an implicative relation between product attributes and physiological or psychological consequences and between these consequences and values governs consumer behavior. A product is regarded as a bundle of attributes; people select products that involve desired consequences while trading off with any undesirable consequences. Product differentiation strategies are increasingly used in food marketing to attract the interest of consumers for various product characteristics. Product differentiation is achieved through distinct product attributes and is often communicated through product labels or other marketing activities. Long-run competitiveness of food products requires that consumers attribute a value to the product. The attributed value may originate from a plethora of product attributes and/or from conditions in the production process. These attributes and conditions, however, may differ with respect to consumer desirability. This study investigates the consumer tradeoff for pork meat between consequences related to product attributes characterized by various levels of animal welfare, taste quality, and use of biotechnology in production of pork. Evaluated by personal values, these tradeoffs will reflect which consequences consumers try to achieve in a consumption situation. The specific focus in this study is on castration of male pigs. Castration of male pigs is routinely performed worldwide in order to prevent the occurrence of the objectionable odor or flavor of boar taint in pig carcasses. Boar taint is caused mainly by androstenone, a testicular steroid, and skatole (3-methylindole from tryptophan by swine intestinal bacteria; Zeng et al., 2001). The latter, however, is easily suppressed by dietary means (Claus, Weiler, & Herzog, 1994). Consumer tolerance of tainted meat is low, as it involves an unpleasant experience of cooking and eating. Large importers of pork (e.g., Japan and Singapore) do not import meat from entire male pigs. There are currently no practical and valid techniques to detect boar taint on the slaughter line (Federation of Veterinarians of Europe [FVE], 2001). Early slaughter to prevent male pigs from reaching sexual maturity is uneconomical in most cases. The most common castration technique is surgical castration, where the testicles are physically removed. Anesthesia is generally not used due to practical problems and high costs. There is substantial evidence that surgical castration is labor cost intensive, painful, and highly aversive to pigs. Consequently, today’s surgical castration can be seen as an ethical issue—given that we see animals as sentient beings—and can also give rise to humans concerns about the animals welfare (FVE, 2001). Immunocastration by active immunization against gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) using a synthetic peptide vaccine to suppress the production of male hormones has recently been recognized as a potential mean of castration. The interest in immunocastration is likely due to both a concern for prevention of boar taint and a concern for the welfare of the animals. The vaccine stimulates the male pig’s immune system to make antibodies; when these antibodies are attached to the animal’s natural GnRH, the hormone cannot initiate reproductive processes. Recent research work shows better growth performance for immunocastrates compared to surgical castrates for Western as well as for Chinese breeds (Zeng et al., 2001, 2002), as immunoCarl Johan Lagerkvist Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences