Too Close to Eat? Solidarity with Animals, Animal Welfare and Antibiotic Use

ABSTRACT

Meat consumption is influenced by a variety of factors including feelings of affinity towards farm animals. The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between solidarity with animals, attitudes towards the treatment of animals and antibiotics use in livestock, and pork  consumption. Data were drawn from a sample of 265 respondents in the US. Correlation and mediation analyses were performed. The results indicate a moderate but positive correlation between solidarity with animals and proecological beliefs. The association between attitudes towards the treatment of farm animals, aspects of the attitudes towards antibiotic use and solidarity with animals was also positive. We also find  that proecological beliefs and concerns about the treatment of farm animals negatively influenced consumption. The effect of attitudes towards antibiotic use and solidarity with animals on consumption were however fully mediated by proecological beliefs. The results suggest that social identification with animals can play a significant role in food choice. However, its effect is part of a broader connection to nature. Holistic approaches are therefore required to address livestock production practices that may be considered unnatural.

KEYWORDS:

• Animal welfare
• solidarity with animals
• antibiotics
• meat consumption

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Notes

1. A proecological orientation places a high intrinsic value on nature without human dominance (interference). It considers nature as fragile and limited.

2. We are particularly interested in the relationship between the solidarity with animals scale and the component items of the other scales we therefore test for and report the individual correlations instead of a single correlation for the aggregate scale.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.