This is a project within EU’s 6th Framework Programme, Thematic Priority 5 Food Quality and Safety. The WELFARE QUALITY project is designed to develop pan-European standards for on-farm welfare assessment and product information systems as well as practical strategies for improving animal welfare. Considerable effort is focused on analysing and addressing the perceptions and concerns of principal stakeholders (public, industry, government, academia) and providing appropriate feedback. Educational and media initiatives, web-based platforms etc will further enhance societal involvement. As a foundation, the project will develop reliable on-farm welfare monitoring systems and species-specific, practical strategies for improving animal welfare. The project is coordinated by ID-Lelystad, the Netherlands. SIFO is involved in a subproject concerning consumer’s, retailers’ and producers’ concerns and requirements for animal welfare and welfare friendly products. SIFO will coordinate a work package aiming to provide detailed and context relevant knowledge about consumer ideas and requirements regarding animal friendly products. This will be obtained by carrying out focus group interviews and representative surveys in 7 European countries, thus enabling the identification of shared and country specific consumer views. Consumer perceptions will also be compared to perceptions and concepts applied in assessment programs and monitoring programs for animal welfare, as well as with those of other important actors, like retailers and farmers. SIFO is also the Norwegian partner in a parallel work package focussing on distribution systems and the market for welfare friendly products in the same countries. In this project we will 1. assess the market for animal friendly products in Norway, 2. get information on the role of retailers in the promotion of such products, 3. look for animal welfare schemes used by retailers, 4. indicate barriers to the development for this market in Norway, 5. assess retailer perception of consumer demands with regard to labelling and welfare friendly food products, 6. assess feasibility of revised information system for welfare friendly products in current Norwegian retailing context. This project is part of the integrated EU-project Welfare Quality Project, EC FP6, FOOD-CT-2004-506508. It’s full title is: ”Integration of animal welfare in the food quality chain: from public concern to improved welfare and transparent quality”. The primary objective of the Thematic Priority ‘Food Quality and Safety’ is to improve the health and well being of European citizens through ensuring a higher quality of food. In a ‘fork to farm’ approach it is recognized that consumer’s perception of food quality is not only determined by overall nature and safety but also by the welfare status of the animal from which it was produced. Thus, animal welfare is part of an overall ‘food quality concept’. |
