20151-21 - Increasing consumer trust and support for the food supply chain and for food companies

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The partners involved in this consumer-centred EIT project worked with consumers, food companies and other stakeholders across 5 countries in Europe and Israel to co-create initiatives aimed at engendering greater consumer trust in food, as well as greater consumer support for food companies and other food chain actors. The project has provided a variety of platforms where consumers could voice their needs and concerns regarding trust in the food they eat and in the companies that produce that food. SRUC was invited to become part of this project to investigate consumer and industry stakeholder attitudes towards emotional well-being in farm animals, and towards the QBA method for assessing animal emotional well-being it has developed. Consumers were given the opportunity to express their views through surveys and via a Citizen Participation Forum. Industry stakeholders using the QBA app were interviewed on a one-to-one basis and findings published in a peer-reviewed scientific publication (Schillings et al., 2023). The outcomes of this work indicate that consumers and industry stakeholders care about animal well-being and hold positive attitudes towards inclusion of emotional well-being in farm animal welfare standards. Consumers however expressed low levels of trust that farmers would truthfully report the state of emotional well-being in their animals, and wanted to be reassured of the reliability of farmer reports through regular monitoring by external authorities