Is There a Real Difference Between Conventional and Organic Meat? Investigating Consumers' Attitudes Towards Both Meat Types as an Indicator of Organic Meat's Market Potential

Abstract

The European meat industry is confronted with substantial changes of consumer preferences in relation to the type and quantity of meat in everyday diet. One of the main reasons behind these changes is the public impression that meat is a “dangerous” to consume food. This feeling is the result of recent food scares where meat played a central role and their effect on consumers' perceptions about meat safety. The research at hand explores the market potential of organic meat in Greece and emphasizes the perceptions about meat consumption held by organic consumers as opposed to those held by non-consumers of organic foods. It is expected that organic consumers will be more interested in a series of quality attributes of meat commonly found in its organic type, in comparison to non-consumers of organic food. However, the main finding of the survey is that consumer demands in relation to meat quality and safety are particularly high, irrespective of meat's production method. The research concludes that the particularly low consumption of organic meat in Greece should be partially attributed to its insufficient differentiation in consumers' minds

Consumers’ willingness to pay for organic chicken breast: Evidence from choice experiment

“…Ureña et al (2008) reported a WTP of 17.6% for meat and sausages in a Spanish survey study. Krystallis, Arvanitoyannis, and Chryssohoidis (2006) reported that most Greek consumers were willing to pay 85-130% extra for organic chicken. However, consumers in these studies were simply asked how much extra they were willing to pay if the organic meat product would be available.…”

Direct and mediated impacts of product and process characteristics on consumers’ choice of organic vs. conventional chicken

“…Similar results are found in survey studies. For example, one study found that 87% of a sample of Greek consumers considers taste to be the most important reason for their meat preferences and another study reports that for 56% of Greek buyers better taste is the main reason for their organic food preference (Krystallis, Arvanitoyannis, & Chryssohoidis, 2006). These studies, together with studies of the cues consumers use to infer the quality of a food product (Becker, 2000;Brunsø, Fjord, & Grunert, 2002), raise the question whether consumers value specific product and process characteristics in their own right or because they use them as cues to eating quality and to form expectations about the pleasure derived from eating the product?…”

Organic Livestock Farming — Challenges, Perspectives, and Strategies to Increase Its Contribution to the Agrifood System’s Sustainability — A Review

“…In the few cases in which producers can manage to sell their products as organic, such scarcity of developed channels causes the price differential between organic and conventional products to be still high, feeding a loop characterized by reduced per capita consumption and low presence of organic products in the supermarkets [115][116]. As a consequence, demand and willingness to pay consumers for organic products is reduced [117], especially in relation to beef and in countries such as Spain [118][119], despite being one of the first producers in Europe.…”

“…In the case of beef, this little demand is partly due to the fact that consumers do not perceive clearly the differences between organic and conventional meat [115]. Therefore, [120] showed that there is a clear need to excel in organic meat products, quality, and environmental contribution.…”

“…Therefore, [120] showed that there is a clear need to excel in organic meat products, quality, and environmental contribution. However, it is can be complex to define and evaluate the quality characteristics of a meat product, especially when the benefits of organic meat over conventional are not clear from the sensory, nutritional, and health aspects [115], particularly when they are compared with conventional extensive systems, such as those present in the pasture.…”