ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Anim. Sci.
Sec. Animal Welfare and Policy
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fanim.2025.1620566
Survey on Consumer Views: Broiler Stunning
Provisionally accepted
- Auburn University, Auburn, United States
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
From poultry welfare perspective, stunning methods in processing are one of the most debated within the industry. There are two commercial stunning methods: electrical and controlled atmosphere stunning. However, it has yet to be determined if one is superior to the other. An online survey was conducted to determine consumer perception of stunning and animal welfare. A total of 986 responses were collected from regular American chicken meat consumers. The objective knowledge assessment showed that 10% of respondents knew what stunning is while overall, 22% had a conceptual understanding of animal welfare. Consumers still prioritize food safety and pricing over animal welfare-enhanced products. When participants were segmented regarding their knowledge of poultry processing, 18% of consumers were considered 'high knowledge". This study contributes to a better understanding of consumer perception of poultry welfare that may lead the industry.This study can provide insight into the perception of American chicken meat consumers regarding animal welfare and broiler stunning. The study underscores the potential role of certified labels as information tools. A humanely processed label could bridge the knowledge gap between the poultry industry and consumers regarding animal welfare, providing reliable and transparent information about welfare practices. Also, the level of consumer knowledge of stunning methods and consumer perception of animal welfare can contribute to developing welfare standards in the poultry industry.
Keywords: poultry welfare, Broiler processing, controlled atmosphere stunning, Electrical stunning, Consumer awareness
Received: 29 Apr 2025; Accepted: 23 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Barahona-Dominguez, An, Baker-Cook and Cho. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sungeun Cho, Auburn University, Auburn, United States
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.