Consumers questioned about animal welfare and processors' ethics

The Internet survey is a prelude to the implementation of tougher and unified rules on animal welfare the Commission has been working on for the bloc. The Commission said it is currently preparinga community action plan on the subject that will outline planned initiatives in this area for the coming years.

The multiple choice questionnaire includes a question asking whether food retailers currently provide sufficient information on the animal welfare conditions under which their products are sourced.

It also asks consumers if they would like food products to be labelled more clearly to indicate the animal welfare conditions under they are sourced.

The multiple choice survey also asks consumers whether they believe that producing food under higher conditions of animal welfare and protection would result in better food taste, safety andquality and would result in more ethically acceptable products.

Earlier this year a separate EU survey on consumer attitudes supported proposed legislation on improving the treatment of farm animals and the need for better labelling.

The Eurobarometer survey in June showed that 52 per cent of the EU's citizens said that they did not take animal welfare considerations into account when buying meat.

The survey also showed wide disparities among EU countries in concern for animal welfare. Overall about 74 per cent of consumers believe they can improve animal welfare through their shoppingchoices, and 57 per cent are willing to pay more for animal welfare-friendly food products. The poll also reveals consumers were concerned that such products are difficult to identify.

At the time the European Commission said it would work on improving the labelling of "animal-friendly" products within the EU. At the time, health and consumer protection commissioner,Markos Kyprianou, claimed the survey supported the Commission's programme to bring in a series of new directives requiring farmers to implement better welfare protection measures for their animals.

As the first in a series of planned measures, the Commission said it would submit to the EU parliament a new directive outlining measures farmers will be required to take in improving the treatmentof broiler chickens.

The Eurobarometer opinion survey was carried out for the European Commission in February and March 2005 with an average of 1,000 respondents surveyed in each of the 25 EU member states. The latestsurvey underway is part of Commission plans to investigate consumer attitudes further and to extend the survey's scope to other countries such as Norway, Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.

The EU's Protocol on Protection and Welfare of Animals, in effect since 1999 under the Amsterdam Treaty, sets out the principles on animal welfare the European Commission is required to follow inimplementing new directives on the issue.