Millennial consumers say that what pigs eat has a strong influence on their pork-buying habits, according to a Cargill Feed4Thought consumer survey.
The survey, which polled more than 2,000 people in the US and Spain, found that 43 percent of American millennials say that a pig's diet influences their purchasing decisions. In Spain, the second-largest pork-producing country in Europe, the number was about 65 percent of millennials.
chain to help consumers understand that the pork they eat was produced in a healthy and responsible manner."" data-reactid="21" data-type="text" type="text">The survey found that, overall, one-third of all US consumers (32 percent) say a pig's diet influences their purchasing decisions, as opposed to 60 percent of Spanish consumers. American baby boomers and Generation X place less importance on the diets of the pigs they consume (32 percent and 26 percent say a pig's diet influences their purchasing decisions, respectively).
In both countries, millennials place the highest importance on pigs' diets, but also have the lowest trust that the pigs they eat are raised on what they consider a healthy diet. Forty-two percent of American millennials don't trust that their pork is raised on a healthy diet, significantly more than Baby Boomers (32 percent). In Spain, the number jumps to 67 percent of millennials who don't trust diets fed to pigs are healthy.
Additional results of the survey
- Ninety-four percent of American consumers eat pork, and 52 percent of them say bacon is their favorite pork product.
- Ninety-eight percent of Spanish consumers eat pork, and 74 percent of them say ham is their favorite pork product.
- Only 10 percent of both US and Spanish consumers have an accurate idea of how much feed it takes to raise a pig to market weight.
- Thirty-seven percent of US millennials think it takes more land and water to raise pigs today than it did 50 years ago.
- Thirty-nine percent of Spanish millennials think it takes more land and water to raise pigs than it did 50 years ago.
About Cargill Animal Nutrition's Feed4Thought Survey
Feed4Thought is a regular consumer survey effort from Cargill Animal Nutrition that explores key perceptions and opinions about important topics in the animal protein production chain. The online survey for Cargill Animal Nutrition was conducted by ORC International. The US survey was conducted in December 2016, and polled a demographically representative sample of 1,055 US adults. The Spanish survey also was conducted in December 2016, and polled a demographically representative sample of 1,000 Spanish adults.
