Citizen attitudes towards present and future beef consumption before and after the COVID-19 pandemic

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Fuente, V. M. D. L., Hötzel, M. J., Teixeira, D. L., Larraín, R. E. and Enriquez, D. 2024. Citizen attitudes towards present and future beef consumption before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Meat Science. 212 (June), p. 109467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2024.109467

AuthorsFuente, V. M. D. L., Hötzel, M. J., Teixeira, D. L., Larraín, R. E. and Enriquez, D.
Abstract

There's been a change in citizens' attitudes towards beef consumption in high-income countries, resulting in a decline in its consumption. The COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted citizens' attitudes and behaviours towards beef consumption. This study aimed to investigate Chilean citizens' attitudes towards beef consumption during the initial 18 months of the pandemic. Socio-demographic characteristics and attitudes towards beef consumption were asked in two questionnaires done in 2020 (n = 1142) and 2021 (n = 1221). Citizens' attitudes to beef eating and production did not change between the start and more than a year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants not related with animal production, female, young, and non-meat consumers demonstrated more negative attitudes towards beef consumption and production. Half of the participants agreed that beef is bad for the environment, but only 30% agreed that beef is bad for human health. Half of participants had reduced beef consumption and 48% expressed intentions to reduce beef consumption in the future, primarily motivated by concerns related to animal welfare, the environment, and human health. The majority of participants (80%) thought that their fellow citizens should reduce their beef consumption but only 50% had confidence that this will occur. We conclude that Chilean consumers' attitudes to beef eating did not change due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants expressed strong concern about beef consumption both individually and socially, due to environmental, animal and health concerns, and believed Chileans should reduce beef consumption in the future but had low confidence that this will happen.

KeywordsMeat ; Beef; Consumption; COVID-19; Pandemic; Attitudes; Behaviour
Year of Publication2024
JournalMeat Science
Journal citation212 (June), p. 109467
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2024.109467
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
FunderCONICYT
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Funder project or codeS2N - Soil to Nutrition - Work package 2 (WP2) - Adaptive management systems for improved efficiency and nutritional quality
Publisher's version
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online27 Feb 2024
Publication process dates
Accepted25 Feb 2024
ISSN0309-1740
PublisherElsevier

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