Do Mexican consumers really care about hen welfare? Understanding their attitudes, constraints and willingness to pay for cage-free eggs

Abstract

Mexico has the highest per capita egg consumption in the world and ranks fifth in international egg production. Currently, there is a lack of data on consumer attitudes towards the welfare of laying hens (WLH) and their willingness-to-pay-a-price-premium (WTPPP) for cage-free eggs. To address this gap, a survey was conducted among 1040 Mexican egg consumers in different shopping venues. The average level of concern about hen welfare was 8.6/10, with higher levels of concern among female respondents and those aged 50 and over. Consumers agreed on the impact of welfare conditions on egg quality and the need for hens to be able to express natural behaviors. However, they lacked sufficient information about existing regulations and how hens are reared. At least 54% of consumers were willing to pay a price premium for cage-free eggs and could be further categorized into three groups based on the percentage of price premium they were willing to pay. Gender and age were significant factors differentiating consumer attitudes towards hen welfare at the socio-demographic level. However, these attitudes did not determine WTPPP for cage-free eggs. In contrast, education level played a crucial role in determining WTPPP, but not attitudes towards WLH. Our results indicate that paying premiums for cage-free eggs is insufficient to drive the industry’s conversion to cage-free housing systems for egg production. Rather, a strategy should be implemented to provide consumers with reliable information about alternative production systems to cages and their positive and negative impacts on WLH.