By: Richard Ford, The Grocer 30 Nov 2013

The majority of shoppers are confused about animal welfare standards and would like clear, hierarchical rankings to help them better understand different standards, schemes and logos, new research for The Grocer has found.

Just 10% of consumers say they have a good understanding of animal welfare standards and logos for meat, poultry and eggs, and how they differ. The majority – 67% – say they understand only some standards but not others, while 18% claim to be unsure about welfare standards across the board.

Some 49% of shoppers say they would like more information on what different welfare schemes and logos mean, while 39% would like to see rankings of which schemes and logos offer the highest standards.

The results showed that welfare standards were an important and emotive subject for shoppers, said Blake Gladman, research and insight manager at Him! which carried out the survey of 100 consumer panellists for The Grocer.