18. Animal Welfare

Consumer attitudes toward the food they purchase and consume have changed radically in the last 50 years. Healthfulness and food quality have become increasingly important in their decisions. Globalization, innovative changes in technology, and increased product differentiation are responsible for the wider variety of foods available, with increasingly broader quality attributes and dietary health characteristics. With the advent of animal biotechnology, consumers and others are becoming increasingly interested in the welfare of the animals that contribute to food products (Thiermann and Babcock 2005). It is not just a social concern for animal welfare, although that is certainly an important aspect, but increasingly consumers are aware of, and concerned about, the important links between animal health and animal welfare, the safety and quality of food products and their broader implications for biodiversity, the environment and for human, plant and animal health, and safety within that environment. In essence, consumers everywhere are increasingly demanding their right to make more informed choices about the food products they purchase and consume, including how animals are bred, raised, kept, used, transported, and slaughtered.