Hen housing system information effects on U.S. egg demand

Publication date: Available online 22 July 2019Source: Food PolicyAuthor(s): Dan Ochs, Christopher A. Wolf, Nicole Olynk Widmar, Courtney Bir, John LaiAbstractThe U.S. egg industry has been moving rapidly towards “cage-free” aviary housing as an alternative to conventional cages for hens. A choice experiment was used to evaluate the U.S. public’s willingness to pay (WTP) for egg attributes including housing system, color, size, and certifying agency. A significant difference in WTP for hen housing systems was found using video information treatments describing hen housing systems. When respondents were shown videos of egg production systems, they were indifferent between cage-free aviary and the alternative enriched colony hen housing system whereas with no video information the respondents clearly preferred the cage-free system. Results point towards potential public misunderstanding of the costs and benefits associated with the “cage-free” egg label designation and highlight potential discrepancies between industry commitments and informed consumer preferences.

Source: Food Policy - July 24, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research