Organic Consumers' Willingness to Pay for Boar Meat Products

The acceptance by consumers of salami made from boar meat was increased by those who enjoyed the product samples offered. However, those who did not like the taste reacted more negatively, leading researchers to conclude that pork must be tested for boar taint and/or consumers need more information about the characteristics of boar meat before marketing.
calendar icon 11 December 2013
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Researchers Astrid Heid and Ulrich Hamm from the University of Kassel in Germany have examined the willingness of organic consumers to pay for a boar meat product (salami) before and after tasting product samples.

In a paper in the journal, Organic Agriculture, they explained that boar meat products are unfamiliar to consumers in many European countries. Offering samples for tasting is a frequently used marketing tool for new products and could also be of interest for introducing organic boar meat products.

Ratings for odour and flavour as well as stated preferences were compared with results from Vickrey auctions before and after tasting samples of organic salami produced with and without meat from uncastrated male pigs.

Overall, offering product samples for tasting had a significant negative effect on the willingness to pay for boar salami.

Considering consumers preferences for the tasted products, it became clear that consumers who preferred the boar salami were significantly more willingness to pay for it (20 per cent). However, the negative effect of a negative evaluation of the boar salami on willingness-to-pay was considerably stronger (50 per cent).

The Kassel researchers concluded that hedonic experiences strongly influence willingness-to-pay. Therefore, product tastings can be very useful in introducing meat from uncastrated male pigs. However, Heid and Hamm added that the pork either needs to be closely screened for boar taint, and/or the tastings have to be accompanied by communication measures to explain characteristics of boar meat.

Reference

Heid A. and U. Hamm. 2013. Organic consumers’ willingness-to-pay for boar meat products before and after tasting product samples. Organic Agriculture. 3(2):83-93.

Further Reading

You can view the full report (fee payable) by clicking here.

December 2013

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