Animal welfare: the EU policy and consumers' perspectives

Abstract. The awareness of animal welfare and animal well-being is growing all over Europe and the world. The concerns are related to the applied policy regimes, economic sustainability of the production methods, food quality and safety, consumers' health and behaviour and their willingness to pay for animal products obtained in animal-friendly conditions. The paper aims to analyse the consumers' awareness and its effect on consumers' purchasing behaviour in Bulgaria. The data were collected under the WELANIMAL project, based on a questionnaire. Later a statistical analysis was done. At the end it is concluded that consumers still need to be educated and there are opportunities to enhance their awareness of animal welfare standards through marketing actions