Consumer's expectations about quality of livestock products: focus groups in 4 European countries

Food chain actors lack objective, robust and reliable information to meet consumers’ expectations in relation to the global quality of livestock products from the various European husbandry systems. This contribution presents some preliminary results of INTAQT project (EU Horizon 2020), which aims to perform an in-depth multi-criteria assessment of the relationships between animal husbandry and qualities of livestock products. In specific, this study aims to collect insights on the expectations of consumers about intrinsic and extrinsic quality of chicken meat, beef and dairy products. To achieve this goal, four focus groups with consumers were organized in Italy, France, Germany and the UK. The main objectives of all focus groups were to assess the type of information consumers seek for when purchasing chicken, beef and dairy products, and the extent to which a multicriteria scoring tool would be useful to them. A common methodological approach was developed, based on 3 main questions: (1) what is important when purchasing chicken meat, beef or dairy products; (2) which are the missing pieces of information on products’ quality; (3) what is the interest in including some criteria to develop a multicriteria scoring tool. The 4 focus groups were organized as virtual meetings (due to the COVID-19 limitations) with an average of 10 participants per focus group in each country. The selected participants were living in urban, peri-urban and rural areas, and they were used to consume livestock products. Results evidenced that consumers are very interested in both origin and production systems of the livestock products and ask for the indication of extrinsic attributes (e.g. sustainability and animal welfare). In general, the consumers showed interest on the development of a standardized multicriteria scoring tool, but they also raised critical points on its reliability. The following criteria are of particular interest for the development of such tool: traceability, nutritional values, husbandry systems and animal welfare. The results of this study are part of the multi-actor approach of INTAQT project, and they will be used to support and orientate the next research activities.