Browsing by Author "Hotzel, Maria Jose"

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    Chilean public attitudes towards beef production systems
    (2023) de la Fuente, Valentina Mansky; Enriquez-Hidalgo, Daniel; Teixeira, Dayane Lemos; Larrain, Rafael; Hotzel, Maria Jose
    Much is discussed about the characteristics, efficiency, and externalities of indoor housing and pasture-based beef production systems, but little is known about how these features influence public attitudes towards beef production. This study aimed to explore Chilean citizens' attitudes towards beef production systems and their underlying reasons. Citizens (n = 1,084) were recruited to participate in a survey and given information about one beef production system: indoor housing, continuous grazing or regenerative grazing. Participants had more favourable attitudes (from 1 = most negative attitudes to 5 = most positive attitudes) towards pasture-based systems (regenerative grazing = 2.94; continuous grazing = 2.83) than towards indoor housing (1.94), mainly due to concerns with animal welfare and environmental impacts. Productivity was not as important as the other sustainability aspects for participants as they were not willing to do that trade-off. Support for beef production may benefit if production systems adopt characteristics that are perceived by the public as positive for the environment and animal welfare.
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    Citizen attitudes towards present and future beef consumption before and after the COVID-19 pandemic
    (2024) Fuente, Valentina Mansky de la; Hotzel, Maria Jose; Teixeira, Dayane Lemos; Larrain, Rafael Esteban; Enriquez-Hidalgo, Daniel
    There's been a change in citizens' attitudes towards beef consumption in high-income countries, resulting in a decline in its consumption. The COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted citizens' attitudes and behaviours towards beef consumption. This study aimed to investigate Chilean citizens' attitudes towards beef consumption during the initial 18 months of the pandemic. Socio-demographic characteristics and attitudes towards beef consumption were asked in two questionnaires done in 2020 (n = 1142) and 2021 (n = 1221). Citizens' attitudes to beef eating and production did not change between the start and more than a year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants not related with animal production, female, young, and non-meat consumers demonstrated more negative attitudes towards beef consumption and production. Half of the participants agreed that beef is bad for the environment, but only 30% agreed that beef is bad for human health. Half of participants had reduced beef consumption and 48% expressed intentions to reduce beef consumption in the future, primarily motivated by concerns related to animal welfare, the environment, and human health. The majority of participants (80%) thought that their fellow citizens should reduce their beef consumption but only 50% had confidence that this will occur. We conclude that Chilean consumers' attitudes to beef eating did not change due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants expressed strong concern about beef consumption both individually and socially, due to environmental, animal and health concerns, and believed Chileans should reduce beef consumption in the future but had low confidence that this will happen.
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    Meat Consumers' Opinion Regarding Unhealthy Pigs: Should They Be Treated with Antibiotics or Euthanized on Farm?
    (2021) Lemos Teixeira, Dayane; Enriquez-Hidalgo, Daniel; Estay Espinoza, Tamara; Bas, Fernando; Hotzel, Maria Jose
    The aim of this study was to investigate the opinions of meat consumers (n = 1780) on on-farm management of unhealthy pigs, whether support for treatment with antibiotics varies according with chance of recovery, and the effect of knowledge on the use of antibiotics on these opinions. Most participants believed that the use of antibiotics was the best solution for unhealthy pigs, and this was associated with a low level of knowledge about antibiotics. Increasing the probability of recovery after treatment increased support for treating pigs with antibiotics. However, the majority of participants rejected the consumption of meat from animals housed in "hospital pens". After price, concern with food safety was the second main factor that influenced participants' choice when buying meat. Support for the use of antibiotics to deal with unhealthy pigs in "hospital pens", as well as for consumption of the meat from these animals, was higher among participants involved in agriculture. This shows that consumers are unaware of the potential negative repercussions for animal welfare associated with banning or reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock production, which is an important concern for the industry.
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    Pigs' capacity to experience feelings and to suffer from tail lesion, ear lesion and lameness: Exploring citizens and pig farm and abattoir workers' knowledge and perceptions
    (2023) Teixeira, Dayane Lemos; Salazar, Laura C.; Enriquez-Hidalgo, Daniel; Hotzel, Maria Jose
    The aim of this study was to gain insight into the perceptions of pig farm and abattoir workers as well as lay citizens regarding (1) sentience and (2) positive (intelligent and friendly) and negative (gluttonous, stubborn and dirty) attributes of pigs. We also aimed to investigate the (3) knowledge and perceptions of pig farm and abattoir workers on tail lesion, ear lesion and lameness in pigs and (4) the opinion of lay citizens regarding the likelihood of tail lesions, ear lesions, and lameness causing suffering in pigs and affecting meat quality. Chilean pig farm workers (n = 116), pig abattoir workers (n = 95), and lay citizens (n = 708) were invited on farm, at the abattoir and in public places, respectively, to participate in a survey. Answers were indicated using a 5-point Likert scale (0 = totally disagree; 4 = totally agree). Data were analysed using generalized linear models, including recruitment place and socio-demographic data as predictor variables. Female and lay citizens attributed pigs a higher capacity to experience feelings than male participants and pig farm and abattoir workers (p < 0.05). Lay citizens and workers recruited on farm described pigs as being more intelligent and friendly than those workers recruited at the abattoir (p < 0.001); recruitment place and sex were not associated with participants' perception regarding negative attributes of pigs (p > 0.05). Most lay citizens considered that tail lesions, ear lesions and lameness are likely to cause suffering in pigs and older participants had higher odds of agreeing that tail and ear lesions are likely to affect meat quality (p < 0.05). Finally, the risk factors for tail lesion, ear lesions and lameness pointed out by pig farm and abattoir workers is in line with what has been suggested by experts. Our findings contribute to understand the perception and values of all stakeholders regarding animal welfare, as it is crucial to improve the sustainability of animal production systems.
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    Social hierarchy and feed supplementation of heifers : Line or piles?
    (2019) Schenato Bica, Gabriela; Lemos Teixeira, Dayane; Hotzel, Maria Jose; Pinheiro, Luiz Carlos; Machado,Filho