Evaluation of the Impact of Processing Techniques and Labeling on Poultry Sensory Attributes, Consumer Acceptance, and Purchase Behavior

Abstract

Animal welfare is a topic of discussion for the animal agriculture industry as this niche market has been growing over the past decade. In poultry specifically, there are many various methods used to promote animal welfare. However, they primarily entail production practices and not processing. In processing, there are two stunning methods primarily used. In electrical stunning, the most common, birds are live shackled then enter an electrical water bath to render them unconscious prior to exsanguination. Gas stunning is deemed an effective alternative with higher regard to animal welfare where birds stay in their coops and then enter a gas chamber where oxygen is replaced with gases such as carbon dioxide. In the first study, the objective was to determine if there were any differences between the two stunning methods consumer acceptance (n=90, n=93 respectively) and if there are any differences in sensory attributes over time using vacuum packaging and non-vacuum packaging. Meanwhile, the second study investigated if there were any differences in consumer acceptance, purchase intention, and willingness to pay for identical chicken breast bites with common value-added labels (All-Natural, USDA Organic) and the Humanely Processed label (n=116). These studies showed that there were minimal to no differences in consumer acceptance, sensory attributes, purchase intention, and willingness to pay for electrical and gas stunned chicken and different labeled identical chicken breast bites. However, consumers were not willing to pay a premium (above market average) for either value-added label or the Humanely Processed label demonstrating the need for pricing to be reasonable in terms of consumer perception. These studies provided key insights for poultry companies if different processing plants have different stunning techniques used there will be no differences in consumer acceptance. In addition, it demonstrated that the willingness to pay and purchase intention for Humanely Processed was similar to common value-added labels on the market indicating to marketers that there may be a niche animal welfare market growing in poultry products.