Ethical Shopping — Up In Flames?

YouGov and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals conducted an online survey and found that about 93% of the population consumes meat and animal welfare is considered to be an important factor by about 28% of consumers when purchasing meat products.

According to survey results, 93% of British adults always or sometimes eat meat, while 7% say they never eat meat. Price is a major factor when buying “higher animal welfare” products; 72% of consumers said whether they purchase higher animal welfare products or not depends on price or special offers. Animal welfare is more important to consumers than country of origin (CoO); 28% of respondents listed animal welfare as an important factor, compared with 22% who listed CoO.

Convenience is also very important to shoppers; 64% always or sometimes by pre-prepared BBQ packs. Of these people, 69% say that they never or sometimes look at the packages for animal welfare related information. 63% of women make the purchases for BBQ-related activities, while 70% also make related food purchases.

Food waste in the United Kingdom amounts to about 33 million chickens and 3 million pigs per year, according to to the government’s “Love Food Hate Waste” campaign.