[page 782] [Ital J Anim Sci vol.13:2014] What foods are identified as animal friendly by Italianconsumers?

In the Italian market, voluntary certifica-tions implying higher levels of animal welfare generally fall into wider production schemes. Despite of the results of EU surveys indicating that about 50 % of Italian consumers can easily identify and find animal-friendly products, they still are distributed scarcely or discontin-uously in the main retail chains. To assess the apparent contradiction between the intricate information consumers receive from labels and their declared awareness about animal welfare, a survey was conducted in Emilia Romagna region on 355 Italian consumers (face-to-face interviews based on a structured, semi-close-ended questionnaire). Overall, con-sumers showed a low degree of knowledge about animal welfare attributes, animal farm-ing conditions and animal protection policies (about 30 % of correct answers), and a low level of awareness of the effects of their purchasing choices on the welfare of farmed animals (22%). The respondents also showed difficul-ties in identifying animal-friendly products and often confused them with other certified foods, having sometimes a weak connection (or none at all) to animal welfare (e.g., Protected Designation of Origin products). However, most consumers declared to be ready to pay a premium price in name of animal wel-fare. In conclusion, a labelling system for the welfare content of animal-derived foods is con-firmed to be an effective strategy to compen-sate the efforts of farmers in improving animal welfare, provided that the information given is clear and able to fill the substantial lack of con-sumer knowledge