Student Attitudes Toward Animal Welfare, Resource Use, And Food Safety
This study of students’ attitudes toward food safety, resource use, and animal welfare found that participation in a course on contemporary issues in animal agriculture impacted attitudes. Subsequent to completion of the course, students showed increased knowledge and a greater willingness to explore issues related to animal and environmental concerns.
This research studied the issue of modern animal agriculture as it relates to animal welfare, resource use, and food safety. Students ranked food safety as their top concern, followed by resource use and then animal welfare.
Students with an agricultural background were slightly less concerned about most issues than those without this experience, although the differences were not large. Student perceptions changed in a positive way from pre- to post-survey answers, indicating that education affects students with and without prior agricultural experience. Regarding animal welfare, after completion of the course, agricultural and non-agricultural students considered animal transport to be a topic of increased concern.
Furthermore, it was found that students with agricultural experience were still likely to question specific management practices with respect to food safety, resource use, and animal welfare. Consequently, researchers concluded that agricultural education programs can increase knowledge and understanding related to animal and environmental issues.