Europeans vis-à-vis pig production and pork consumption
Findings from the Module I pan-European consumer survey
by Wim Verbeke, University of Gent
The quantitative survey related to European citizens’ attitudes towards pig production systems and pork consumption behaviour was undertaken in module 1. Data obtained from 1931 households in four European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Poland and Germany) were used. The overall objective of the study was to map peoples’ attitude towards pig meat production systems, and to investigate whether these attitudes associate with pork and pork product consumption. Therefore, a two-fold segmentation study was performed.
The first segmentation task was based on people’s attitudes towards pig farming and its characteristics, thus from the perspective of the citizen role played by respondents. This task showed that people assign most importance to animal and environmental well-being, rather than the resulting end product characteristics, as criteria to discriminate between “good” and “bad” pig farming practices. Moreover, three small-sized, clear-cut clusters of citizens were identified, which pay attention to specific pig farming attributes (environmentally conscious, animal welfare conscious, and citizens who support “green” small-scale pig farming), in addition to one cluster that covers the bulk of ambivalent average citizens. It thus becomes clear that attitudes towards environment and nature, animal welfare and the need for an environment-friendly food production are related to specific citizens’ attitudes towards pig farming.
The second segmentation task was based on people’s reported pork con- Europeans vis-à-vis pig production and pork consumption sumption behaviour, thus from the perspective of the consumer role. Frequencies of pork consumption were relatively high within the overall sample. One cluster (“high variety/ high frequency”) clearly stands out in terms of pork consumption frequency. This segment consists of consumers who seem to accept all kinds of pork products, and herewith represent a potentially lucrative target market for novel pork products. Owing to their interest in novelty and innovation, these consumers are likely to be the early adopters of new pork products. Among the second “high variety/ medium frequency” cluster,which is the wealthier one, consumers are also open to variety, but have only a moderate frequency in pork consumption. Thus, they might be slower in adopting new products. Finally, consumers in the third “low frequency/low variety” cluster present a “hedonist” nature, together with a relatively “green” background attitude. These consumers are quite selective with respect to the pork products they eat, and choose pork only with a relatively low frequency.
Together, both segmentation tasks provide a detailed investigation of European citizen attitudes towards pig production and their pork consumption behaviour. Despite the fact that various clusters include citizens who put different emphasis to certain pig Consumer farming characteristics, pig production system preferences do not significantly influence their observed pork consumption behaviour. Differences among the clusters in terms of regular pork consumption are small. Moreover, the “ambivalent, average” consumers are by far the most regular pork consumer type across all pork products. Overall, the relationship between citizenship and consumption behaviour is weak: what people think about pig production in their role as citizens does not significantly influence their pork consumption choices.
