Welfare-friendly Products: availability, labeling and opinion of retailers in Curitiba, Southern Brazil1

The market for welfare-friendly products (WFP) is increasing worldwide; however, there is a lack of information on this topic in Brazil. We investigated availability, product information and opinion of retailers about WFP in Curitiba, Southern Brazil. We visited 36 strategically located retailers, conducting product evaluation and interviews with managers. The availability of WFP, mostly eggs and chicken meat, was low; no other type of meat was available as WFP. Labeling was deficient, with little information about animal rearing systems. Labeling of regular products displaying images of happy animals was observed and may be a relevant confusing effect. Few certification seals for WFP were also observed, on organic products and free-range chickens. Welfare-friendly products costed 1.7 to 2.5 times more than regular products and great price variability was observed among retailers. Most retailers seemed not aware of the subject and considered that there is low availability of WFP to be offered in the markets. Low availability of WFP and poor label information of both regular and welfare-friendly products are barriers to better understand and meet the demand for higher welfare products. It is our perception that these are constraints for consumers to develop and perform ethical choices related to purchasing behavior.

动物福利友好型产品（Welfare-friendly Products，以下简称WFP）的全球市场呈增长态势，然而巴西国内关于该类产品的相关信息却较为稀缺。本研究针对巴西南部库里提巴市的零售商展开调研，调研内容涵盖WFP的市场可获得性、产品相关信息以及零售商对该类产品的看法。我们共走访了36家选址具有代表性的零售商，并对其管理人员开展了产品评估与访谈工作。调研结果显示，WFP的市场可获得性普遍偏低，且主要集中于鸡蛋与鸡肉品类，其余肉类品类均未推出WFP相关产品。产品标签存在明显缺陷，几乎未提及动物养殖体系的相关信息。部分常规产品的标签上印有愉悦状态的动物图像，该类标签可能会对消费者造成认知混淆。本次调研仅在有机产品与散养鸡肉产品上发现了少量WFP相关认证标识。WFP的售价约为常规产品的1.7至2.5倍，且不同零售商之间的价格差异显著。多数零售商对WFP相关议题缺乏了解，且认为当前市场中可供应的WFP品类较为有限。WFP可获得性不足，以及常规产品与WFP的标签信息不完善，均成为消费者充分认知并满足更高动物福利产品需求的阻碍因素。我们认为，上述问题同样制约了消费者形成并践行与购买行为相关的伦理选择。