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Food Sci Nutr. 2024;12:6720–6734.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fsn3
Received: 8 November 2023
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Revised: 29 May 2024
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Accepted: 31 May 2024
DOI: 10.1002/f sn3 .4278
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Consumer animal welfare and healthy perception of fresh
sausages’ fiber fat replaced and elaborated with meat from
non- castrated male pigs
Macarena Egea1 | M. Dolores Garrido1 | Maria Font- i- Furnols2 | Nuria Panella- Riera2 |
M. Belén Linares1 | Irene Peñaranda1
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.
© 2024 The Author(s). Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
1Department of Food Science and
Technology, Veterinar y Facult y, University
of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
2IRTA- Food Quality and Technology
Program, Finca Camps i Armet, Monells,
Girona, Spain
Correspondence
Irene Peñaranda, Department of Food
Science and Technology, Veterinary
Faculty, Universit y of Murcia, Espinardo,
Murcia 30100, Spain.
Email: irene.penaranda@um.es
Funding information
Instituto Nacional de Investigación
y Tecnología A graria y Alimentaria;
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Grant/
Award Number: RTA 2017- 00039- 02- 02;
Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Abstract
Although replacement of fat with fiber is a good strategy to avoid boar taint on high-
fat content products, as sausages, the final purchase intention is related to other
external factors such as welfare and healthiness. So, the aim of this study was to
evaluate the consumers' perception of sausages with fat replaced by fiber, elaborated
with meat from non- castrated male pigs, and to determine the influence of the con-
sumers' habits and demographic parameters on their beliefs related to pig castration.
An online survey was carried out. A total of 131 consumers answered a question-
naire about habits and beliefs related to meat and meat product issues. Subsequently,
they evaluated four images of labeled products (castrated–not castrated/normal–
reduced- fat/traditional–high fiber content) with the Check- all- that- apply (CATA)
test. In all, 87.7% of meat consumers perceived meat products as positive, although
71% trimmed the fat previous consumption. In a 9- point agreement scale, “Animal
welfare worries me” obtained 7.5 and “the castration without anaesthesia should
not be performed” 7.4. There was a higher grade of agreement with “castration of
pigs justification to improve smell a flavour” in primary education level and in rural
residence (p < .05). Sausages from castrated animals were perceived as fatty, juicy,
appetizing, and animal cruelty. Reduced- fat and rich/high fiber sausages were not as-
sociated with “healthy” but with “expensive” and “unpleasant.” Although reduced- fat
entire male pork sausages with vegetable fiber could be a better option for marketing
uncastrated male pork, they will need more than fiber claims to be associated with
healthy products and the consumer should be previously informed if he could appre-
ciate the meaning of castration labeling.
KEYWORDS
castration, consumers, fiber, pork sausages
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1 | INTRODUCTION
The origin of food and respect for animals are some of the aspec ts that
concern consumers. These issues have recently gained a lot of space in
public discussion, not only for specific consumers, such as vegans and
vegetarians, but also for consumers in general (Pugliese et al., 2023).
In this sense, animal welfare is important when buying or consuming
meat and sausages (De Araújo et al., 2022). Attitudes and expectations
are mainly influenced by information about the characteristics of the
process, beliefs and feelings, but the consumer's final decision also
involves the taste of the meat, whether it is healthy or not, and the
convenience of buying and preparing it. Consumers are supposed to
consider a compromise between animal welfare, food quality, and food
safety when purchasing pork (Aluwé et al., 2020).
European Union's (EU's) policy is clearly oriented toward improving
animal welfare, and one of its main objective s is the welfare of pigs and
the cessation of castration (Directive 2010/63/EU, 2010). As a conse-
quence, non- castrated pigs may accumulate boar taint. “Boar taint” is
a sensory defect of meat related to puberty in animals, which develop
an abnor mal aroma and taste that some consu mer s may pe rceive when
cooking or eating pork due to the accumulation of two substances (an-
drostenone and skatole) in the fat of male pigs (Egea et al., 2020). Many
consumers describe this odor as ammonia- like, similar to that of urine
or sweat, with a pungent and bitter taste (Iniesta et al., 2023). In order
to reduce the perception of this odor and flavor, several strategies have
been studied in fresh and transformed meat, such as smoking, curing,
fermentation, or the addition of spices (Linares et al., 2022; Škrlep
et al., 2020). However, these strategies could not be enough for meat
products when animals have high levels of androstenone or skatole,
since they tend to have a high- fat content (20%–30%), and therefore,
a high content of these compounds, due to their lipophilic nature
(Peñaranda et al., 2023). In addition, cooked fresh products are usually
consumed warm, which increases highly the probability of a negative
sensory experience (Škrlep et al., 2020). An effective alternative for
highly tainted entire male carcasses is blending. For meat patties (con-
taining 30% fat tissue, spiced with pepper and added breadcrumbs), up
to 40% of tainted meat (corresponding to 0.4 ppm (parts per million)
androstenone in the product) was reported to be acceptable (Mörlein
et al., 2019). Meat and meat products can suffer from negative con-
sumer opinions associated with their unhealthy nutritional profile and
high calorie content. Therefore, it is necessary to consider different
strategies to offer healthier products and counteract these negative
opinions, such as by reducing the fat content in meat or by increasing
the amount of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and polyunsatu-
rated fatty acids (PUFAs) (Guedes- Oliveira et al., 2021). However, fat is
the main component of meat that contributes to its texture, flavor, and
juiciness; thus, a reduction in fat content may only delay a decrement
in characteristics, such as cooking performance, texture, and sensory
perception (Bis- Souza et al., 2020). Therefore, it may be important
to replace fat with other ingredients that can fulfill a similar function
and meet consumer demands (Peñaranda et al., 2023). One way to
improve the nutritional profile of meat products is implemented by
including probiotics, natural antioxidants, and vegetable fibers in the
composition of the products (Guedes- Oliveira et al., 2021). Therefore,
the reformulation of meat must be considered. Vegetable fibers have
been the main products chosen to replace fat in meat products (Egea
et al., 2020). These vegetable fibers have been selected considering
the technological properties and consumer health benefits they pro-
vide (Peñaranda et al., 2023). Previous studies have demonstrated that
the reduction of fat in pork products elaborated with meat from non-
castrated male pigs is a good strategy to reduce boar taint perception
(Egea et al., 2020; Peñaranda et al., 2023). A trained panel evaluated
the re duc tio n of fat in fresh Span ish and Fra nkfurt sa usa ges ela bor ate d
with meat from non- castrated male pigs (6.25 μg/g androstenone and
0.4451 μg/g skatole), in which fat was replaced with plant fibers (in-
ulin, β- glucan, and grape skin). The study concluded that plant fibers
could offer a good strategy to mask boar taint (reduction of boar taint
perception was up to 87.3%) and to provide a texture similar to that
of commercial sausages (Egea et al., 2020). The replacement of pork
fat with vegetable fibers, such as fructooligosaccharides (FOS) or β-
glucan, has been shown to have a positive effect on the texture of
low- fat meat products (Guedes- Oliveira et al., 2021). In addition, they
are considered prebiotic agents due to their functional effects on the
gastrointestinal microbiota (Egea et al., 2020), so they could improve
the nutritional profile of meat products.
Consumer perception of meat products is not only associated
with physical and chemical composition, but nutritional quality, sen-
sory properties, and social, ethical, or religious aspects could also
influence purchase intention (Teixeira & Rodrigues, 2021). Any in-
sight into consumers’ beliefs and attitudes is important, as they may
contribute to behavioral intentions (Tomasevic et al., 2020). Studies
on the affective and perceptual representations are interesting
for the development and characterization of new products (Vidal
et al., 2020). Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the
consumers' perception of sausages with fat replaced by fiber, elabo-
rated with meat from non- castrated male pigs, and to determine the
influence of the consumers' habits and demographic parameters on
their beliefs related to pig castration.
2 | MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 | Data collection
An online survey was designed in the Spanish language using the
web- based “Encuestas UMU” platform, a tool from the University
of Murcia (UMU) questionnaire generation and management ser-
vice. This sur vey was available from May 28 to June 13, 2021,
and was disseminated through different social networks, such as
WhatsApp, Facebook, and email, to consumers who lived in Spain,
mainly in the Region of Murcia. Participants were not economically
rewarded. Participation in the survey was voluntary and completely
anonymous. Previous to the start, participants were informed that
the survey was conducted by the University of Murcia for research
purposes. The recruitment of participants was carried out trying to
mimic the Spanish National population distribution by sex and age
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(INE, 2020). A total of 131 surveys were studied. The inclusion crite-
rion of the consumers was that they should consume meat products
(at least once a week).
2.2 | Design and development of the questionnaire
The questionnaire consisted of four independent parts. Questions
were selected from a previous bibliographical review of consumer
studies on animal welfare and castration of pigs, some of them
with some modifications. The questions and tests are presented in
Table 1, together with the reference of the works from which they
were obtained.
2.2.1 | Demographic data
The respondent had to answer basic demographic questions (gen-
der, age, area of residence, level of education, and employment).
2.2.2 | Previous knowledge
An extra question regarding previous knowledge about castration
was added at the end of the questionnaire to not influence the re-
sults: “Do you have knowledge about pigs castration?” with a yes–no
answ er.
2.2.3 | Consumption habits and experiences
This section consisted of six general questions about the habits and
experiences of eating pork. Consumer s were asked about their habits
of meat consumption and the consumption of products rich in fiber,
and also about their experience and perception when eating pork
products. The answers were dichotomous, either “yes” or “no.”
2.2.4 | Consumer beliefs
A structured questionnaire was developed, which included five
statements (beliefs) about castration and perception of the welfare
of castrated pigs, and one more about fat content. The respondents
had to indicate their degree of agreement with each statement ac-
cording to a 9- point Likert scale ranging from 1: “I totally disagree”
to 9 “I totally agree.”
2.2.5 | CATA test (check- all- that- apply)
The CATA test is an effective method used in other food products
that could include subjective terms such as quality and price (Los
et al., 2021). Consumers were asked to complete a “check all that
apply” (CATA) questionnaire from the images provided (Figure 1).
The terms in the questionnaire were generated from previous stud-
ies (Table 2). Sixteen terms related to sensory characteristics of
fresh sausage appearance, hedonic terms and concepts on animal
welfare, health and price of the products were used, eight of which
corresponded to sensory characteristics and eight to concepts or
hedonic terms (Table 2). Consumers had to check all the terms of
the list they considered appropriate to describe each product. The
order of presentation of the terms in the CATA questionnaire was
randomized by groups of attributes in each sample to avoid order
bias (Peñaranda et al., 2020).
Figure 1 shows the images use d on th e CATA questio nnaire of all
the evaluated products with their corresponding labels. Thus, labels
included some fixed information, i.e., the net weight of the product
(300 g), the origin (Spain), and the units in the package (6 units), as
well as some variable information, i.e., the type of pig from which
it was elaborated (non- castrated or castrated), the fat content (no
claim, i.e., “tr aditi onal” or “reduced ”), and the fiber content (no claim ,
“source of fibre” or “rich in fibre”). Additionally, the recipe was in-
cluded: original, rich in fiber (more than 6 g/100 g) or with a high
content of fiber (more than 3 g/100 g), and the ingredients that
made up each sausage. The fat and fiber claims were added follow-
ing the EU Regulation (2006).
The first image (Figure 1a) corresponded to a sausage made from
castrated pork, with 30% pork back fat and 70% lean ham, and with
a traditional recipe. The second image (Figure 1b) was a sausage
with the same formulation as in Figure 1a, but made from entire pig
meat (non- castrated male pig meat). The remaining two formula-
tions were composed using 20% pork back fat. For Non- castrated
F6% (Figure 1c): 6% (w/w) inulin, 0.5% (w/w) β- glucan, and for Non-
castrated F3% (Figure 1d): 3% (w/w) inulin, 1% (w/w) β- glucan, and
0.5% (w/w) grape skin (Egea et al., 2020).
To improve the quality of the data and detect bots at the end
of the survey, an inconsistent question was incorporated to check
for attention. In addition, time data were collected to complete the
survey with an average response time of 8 min and 05 s and consis-
tency checks were performed on the responses to each question in
the questionnaire.
2.3 | Statistical analysis
For the statistical analysis and processing of the consumer survey
data, the statistical software package SPSS 24 (SPSS, Chicago, IL,
USA) was used. The frequency of “yes” or “no” answers was deter-
mined for each question. A chi- square test was used to compare de-
mographic parameters and the consumer habits questions.
A Shapiro–Wilk test was carried out to study the normality of the
distribution of the beliefs section (scale from 1 to 9). As the samples
did not have a normal distribution, a non- parametric Kruskal–Wallis
test was performed considering the sex, age, level of education, em-
ployment, income, awareness of animal welfare, and the “yes- no”
categories from section 1 (“Bad experience”, “Read information”,
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EGEA e t al.
“pork product perception”, “Trimming fat,” and “fibre consumer”) as
fixed sources of variation.
For the analysis of the CATA test, as mentioned in Peñaranda
et al. (2020), the frequency of mention of each attribute was de-
termined through the sum of the number of consumers who used
that attribute to characterize each of the four sausage samples.
Cochran's Q test was carried out to identify significant differences
among sampl es for ea ch of the attr ibutes in cluded in the CATA ques-
tions. To analyze data from the CATA questionnaire, in accordance
with the chi- square distance and the frequency tables, a correspon-
dence analysis was used, and the bidimensional maps representing
samples and descriptors were obtained. For that purpose, a data ma-
trix composed of 4 rows (products) and 16 columns for the attributes
was used. These data were generated for each consumer (131),
TAB LE 1 Questionnaire design.
Section Question Answer Reference
Demographic data Gender Female–male Holman et al. (2017 )
Age (years) 18–30
31–45
46–60
More than 60
Area of residence Rural
Urban
Van Loo et al. (2 014)
Level of education Primary
Secondary
Higher/university
Employment Inactive
Active
Retired
Consumption habits and
experiences
Do you eat meat?
Have you had any unpleasant experiences
consuming pork or meat products in the
last six months?
Rimal (2005),
Reinoso (2020)
Do you usually read the information on
the food labels?
Yes–no
Is your perception of pork products
positive?
Do you trim fat from meat products or
meat before eating?
Do you normally consume products rich
in fibre?
Consumer beliefs Animal welfare worries me Aluwé et al. (2020),
Cabana (2010)
I know that sometimes male pigs intended
for consumption are castrated without
anaesthesia at birth
I think castration of pigs without
anaesthesia should not be done
Scale of 1–9 points
The castration of pigs is justified because
it improves the smell and flavour of the
meat
I believe that meat from castrated pigs
should be labelled as such.
A high fat content in a meat product is
negative for me
CATA test Check- all- that- apply in the questionnaire Dark, bright, animal cruelty, dry,
fatty, light, matte, healthy, juiciness,
appetizing, little fat, unhealthy,
expensive, animal friendly,
unpleasant, cheap
Aluwé et al. (2020), Egea
et al. (2020)
Previous knowledge Do you have knowledge about pigs
castration?
Yes /no
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indicating “0” when the attribute was not selected and “1” when it
was chosen. Then, the correspondence analysis was used to analyze
the associations between categorical variables in a data table. The
variables were represented as points in a multidimensional space,
with the distances between the points indicating the strength of the
associations with the different samples studied. Only attributes with
frequency above 20% were considered (Los et al., 2021). All these
statistical analyses were performed using the XLSTAT 2017 package
(Addinsoft, Paris, France).
3 | RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 | Consumers’ characteristics
Table 2 shows the characteristics of the participants. The sur-
veyed population was composed of 48.1% women and 51.9% men,
whose ages ranged between 18 and 30 years (31.3%), between 30
and 45 years (18.5%), between 46 and 60 years (35.9%), and over
60 years (14.5%), with primary education (6.9%), secondary educa-
tion (32.1%), and higher/university education levels (63.6%). Younger
consumers were overrepresented and older consumers were under-
represented, and this could have an effect on the results obtained,
so it needs to be considered.
In relation to employment, 26.5% of the participants were inac-
tive, 64.9% were active, and 7.6% were retired. A total of 27.5% of
them had an income below the average (<€200 0/month), 35.9% had
an income equal to the average (between €2000 and 2500/month),
and 35.2% had an income above average (>€2500/month) with re-
spect to income values in Spain. With respect to the area where they
live, 88.5% lived in an urban area and 11.5% in a rural one. The mean
response time was 8 min and 05 s.
3.2 | Consumers’ habits
Table 3 sh ows the re sult s of the ha bits and ex perie nce question s. The
percentage of people who had had an unpleasant experience when
consuming pork or meat products in the last six months was 8.4%.
It is possible that this bad experience was related to the presence of
androstenone or skatole, as in Spain, most of the pigs produced are
non- castrated (Aluwé et al., 2020), and some consumers could be
sensitive to androstenone or skatole. Androstenone is a male sex
pheromone with an odor similar to that of urine or sweat and is per-
ceived by approximately 40%–50% of consumers, while skatole is a
metabolite of tryptophan associated with a fecal odor or naphtha-
lene and is perceived by 99% of consumers (Font- i- Furnols, 2012).
Aluwé et al. (2020) in a study from 17 countries found that around
FIGURE 1 Image of the labeling of the
different sausages. (a) “Castrated” sausage
made from castrated pork, with 30% pork
back fat, and 70% lean ham, made with
a traditional recipe. (b) “Non- castrated”
sausage made from entire pork, with
30% pork back fat and 70% lean ham. (c)
“Non- castrated F6%” sausages made from
non- castrated pork, with 20% pork back
fat, 6% (w/w) inulin, and 0.5% (w/w) β-
glucan. (d) “Non- castrated F3%” sausages
made from non- castrated pork, with 20%
pork back fat, 3% (w/w) inulin, 1% (w/w)
β- glucan, and 0.5% (w/w) grape skin.
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EGEA e t al.
30% of the respondents indicated to have experienced a bad smell or
taste when consuming pork. A higher percentage of bad experience
was expected, although it is possible that these lower values could
be related to people sensitive to androstenone who stopped eat-
ing pork to avoid these bad experiences, although it is necessary to
take into account that androstenone sensible consumers sometimes
reduce the consumption of this product. There was a significant ef-
fect according to the age range (p = .010) and income (p = .042). In
terms of age range, previous studies have shown that consumers
aged 46–60 years are the most likely peope to have experienced un-
pleasant odors when consuming meat (Garrido et al., 2023). In terms
of income range, it can be observed that those who had declared to
have a medium and/or below- average income level had a bad experi-
ence when consuming meat. Normally, people with a higher- than-
average income level are more likely to buy ready- to- eat meat dishes
(Caputo et al., 2018) with some kind of processing, which may have
influenced the presence of boar taint. In general, the perception of
boar taint varies between different pork products, as the processing
of meat products decreases the risk of boar taint, due to the use of
cooking, fermentation, smoking, and the use of spices (Peñaranda
et al., 20 17; Škrlep et al., 2020).
The result for the question “Do you usually read the information
on the food labels?” was fairly balanced, with a total of 65 (49.6%)
people answering “yes” and 66 (50.4%) “no.” In a study carried out
by Rimal (2005), 80% of those surveyed considered that it was very
important that meat labels contain information on nutrition, ingre-
dients, health properties, and the production process of meat prod-
ucts. However, according to the Food Safety and Quality Congress
(AECOC) study (2019), the information on the labels was very im-
portant for 56% of the buyers. In the case where 9 out of 10 people
read the labels, the following four aspects were the most important:
TAB LE 2 Characteristics of the survey participants.
Variables Total (n = 131) %
Gender
Female 68 51.9
Male 63 48.1
Age group (years)
18–30 41 31. 3
31–45 24 18 .3
46–60 47 35.9
More than 60 19 14.5
Level of education
Primary 96.9
Secondary 42 32.1
Higher/university 80 61.1
Employment
Inactive 36 26.5
Active 85 64.9
Retired 10 7.6
Income (per month)
Less than the mean (<2000 €) 39 29. 8
As the mean (2000–2500 €) 49 37. 3
More than the mean (> 2500 €) 43 32.8
Area of residence
Urban 116 88.5
Rural 15 11.5
Previous knowledge about castration
Yes 39 29.8
No 92 70.2
TAB LE 3 Habits and experience questions: absolute frequency (and %) of each answer and significance of the demographic parameters.
Habits versus demographics p- value (Chi- square test)
Question Yes No Gender Age
Area of
residence
Level of
education Employment Income
Castration
knowledge
Have you had any
unpleasant experiences
consuming pork or
meat products in the
last six months?
11 (8.4) 120 (91.6) .693 .010 .797 .539 .423 .042 .490
Do you usually read the
information on the food
labels?
65 (49.6) 66 (50.4) .257 .791 .161 .905 .133 .365 .219
Is your perception of
pork products positive?
114 (87.7) 16 (12.2) .141 .189 .48 0 .270 .335 .133 .125
Do you trim fat from
meat products or meat
before eating?
93 (71) 38 (29) .186 .435 .319 .444 .665 .067 .810
Do you normally eat
products rich in fibre?
90 (68.7) 41 (31.3) .698 .036 .857 . 263 .264 .884 .115
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the expiration date, the type of animal from which the meat came
from, the price, and the presence or absence of quality seals. All the
demographic parameters studied were not significant.
For the question “Is your perception of pork products positive”,
a total of 114 people (87.7%) had a positive perception of pork and
its derivatives, and 16 people (12.3%) perceived it as bad, without a
significant ef fect (p > .05) of the demographic parameters studied or
previous knowledge on castration. It is important to point out that
for the present study all people who did not eat meat were excluded
from the sample. This favorable result was therefore to be expected,
as pork is traditionally consumed in Spain, with a processed pork
consumption of 11.3 kg per capita in 2021 (MAPA, 2021).
With respect to the question “Do you trim fat from meat prod-
uc ts or me at be fore eat ing?”, th e res ult showed that 93 people (71%)
answered that they removed the fat before eating meat, while 38
people (29%) did not usually do so. This may be because consumers
tend to perceive fat as not beneficial to their health or because they
do not like its taste. A previous study carried out in Spain by Kallas
et al. (2013) reported that 41% of consumers declared eating pork
with fat. Thus, there has been an increase in the number of con-
sumers who remove fat before eating in the last 10 years. Moreover,
there is an effect of age in this answer, with younger individuals
being the most likely to declare fat trimming. This is perhaps related
to the increase in health concerns (Plasek et al., 2020). In addition,
this trend can also be observed in the fact that a total of 90 people
(69%) declared normally consuming products rich in fiber, whereas
41 people (31%) did not. With these results, it is possible to observe
that the percentage of peopl e who consumed foods rich in fiber was
high, so it is expected that products rich in fiber will be perceived as
someting positive. Plasek et al. (2020) indicate that: “Per the United
States Food & Drug Administration (FDA), Healthy foods are de-
fined as those that are “low in fat, low in saturated fat, contain at
least 10% of the daily value for vitamins A, C, calcium, iron, pro-
tein fibre” and are limited in the amount of sodium and cholesterol
(USFDA).” Positive effects on health have been associated to meat
products such as frankfurters as a source of dietary fiber, because
dietary fiber is associated with the good functioning of the intes-
tine (Polizer Rocha et al., 2018). As Vidal et al. (2020) remarked, the
health awareness is important for predicting a variety of attitudes
and behaviors on meat products.
3.3 | Consumer beliefs toward animal welfare and
pig castration
The total population surveyed agreed with an average of 7.5, with
the statement “Animal welfare worries me” (Table 4). This is a fairly
high number, which indicates that, as previously highlighted, animal
welfare has become a priority for modern consumers. According
to the AECOC (2019) study, in recent years, there has been an in-
crease in concern and awareness in today's society: “Consumers
experience a duality of feelings regarding meat products, and this
is reflected in their consumption habits”. In fact, the meat paradox
is defined as the fact that consumers like animals but, at the same
time, they eat animals (Herzog, 2010 ). Moreover, consumers seem
to experience a feeling of guilt toward mistreated animals under the
social pressure that eating meat is bad for health and the environ-
ment (AECOC, 2019). Even though we found an agreement with
the statement “Animal welfare worries me,” the level of agreement
was significantly (p < .05) higher in consumers who declared to read
label information and to trim fat (Table 4). This information could be
interesting, due to the fact that although the participant read the
exposed half part of the labels, if they are aware about animals, it is
possible that some statement about animal welf are or animal castra-
tion could influence them in their purchase intention. For that, it is
important that the information used should be written in a simple
and direct language, as remarked by Nogueira et al. (2023).
Table 5 shows the effect of the demographic parameters stud-
ied and the previous knowledge about castration on the statements.
Gender, age, employment, income, area of residence, and previous
knowledge about castration did not show any significant effect
(p > .05) on the statement “animal welfare worries me” (Table 5).
In disagreement with our results, previous works have shown that
women are more concerned about animal welfare than men (García-
Gudiño et al., 2021). Differences could be related to the inclusion
criteria, as there are also more vegan women than men (Randler
et al., 2021). This study also did not find differences between age
groups, although it indicated that a few previous works showed that
the importance of animal welfare decreased with age. People with a
primary education agreed more with the statement “I am concerned
about welfare” than people with a secondary education (Table 5).
An average of 3 (=disagree) points were obtained for the state-
ment “I know that sometimes male pigs intended for consumption
are castrated without anaesthesia at birth.” This indicates that, as
Cabana (2010) explained more than 10 years ago, most consum-
ers did not have sufficient knowledge about production practices
when making a purchase. However, this is not a unique situation
in Spain, as this has also been observed in other countries. In fact,
a study with 4031 consumers from Belgium, France, Germany,
and the Netherlands showed that on average, 48.5% of them had
never heard about physical castration and 53.7% of the consumers
had never heard about boar taint (Vanhonacker & Verbeke, 2011).
Ho wev er, alth ough this pr actic e has bee n red uced in most EU co un-
tries, there is no evolution in th e educati on of the population in this
direction. In the present work , no information was previously given
to con sumers , as in th e pre vio us st udy by Tomasev ic et al. (2020), in
which the authors indicated: “this is a limitation of the study since
it can affect the answer of the consumers, but on the other side,
it reflects the beliefs and attitudes in the real situation, without
added information.”
The statement “I think castration of pigs without anaesthe-
sia should not be performed” obtained a score of 7.4 on aver-
age. No effect of habits or demographic characteristics on the
scores of this statement was observed (Tables 4 and 5). Similar
results were found by Kallas et al. (2013) in France, the United
Kingdo m, an d Ger many. Consumers fr om Bosn ia and Her ze govina,
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EGEA e t al.
Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine
agreed with the statement “Castration causes pain to the ani-
mals” (Tomasevic et al., 2020). Castration is a painful and stress-
ful procedure (Marchant- Forde et al., 2009) and it is recognized
as a considerable animal welfare problem. Other studies that did
not include the “anaesthesia” term found different results. Font-
i- Furnols and Guerrero (2022) observed no differences between
clusters for the statement “Castration causes pain to the animals”
and “Castration is necessary,” with all the scores close to the in-
termediate level of the agreement scale toward agreement, indi-
cating that the participants did not have a clear opinion about this
statement, or that the question was not seen either as something
intrinsically good or as something intrinsically bad. Similar results
were obtained for these statements by consumers from Eastern
European countries, such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia,
and Slovenia (Tomasevic et al., 2020). Thus, there is no consensus
on this point, although, in general, both the application of anaes-
thesia or analgesia and the application of immunocastration were
generally rated better than castration with no pain relief (Aluwé
et al., 2020).
The statements “The castration of pigs is justified because it im-
proves the smell and flavour of the meat” and “I believe that meat
from castrated pigs should be labelled as such” received average
scores of 4.2 and 7.4, respectively. In Cabana (2010), the answers to
these questions obtained average scores of 5.82 and 6.14, respec-
tively (in a 9- point scale), and Kallas et al. (2013) obtained average
scores of 5.6 and 8.2 (in a 9- point scale), respectively. The same
questions were asked after the sensory experience and with infor-
mation on castration, and in this case, only the rating on the labeling
of castrated pork was somewhat lower (7.6) (Kallas et al., 2013). An
evolution of consumer opinion on these issues over the last 12 years
could be obser ved, because it seems that there might be an increase
in the importance of the respondents who think they should know
the treatment given to the pigs during their production. In relation
to further castrating due to improved sensory quality, the consumer
opinions were very different; they may believe that it is too painful
for the animals if it is not done properly, and this is important, since
castration (without anesthesia) is still a common practice in many
countries (Aluwé et al., 2020). In this regard, the research by Kallas
et al. (2012) presents results on the relative importance of castration
in animal welfare in six European countries. Although the results dif-
fered from country to country, the relationship between “no castra-
tion” and animal welfare received the lowest scores (in comparison
to other questions concerning castration).
Although the consumers had general knowledge about the
item “I know that sometimes male pigs intended for consumption
TAB LE 4 Means of the agreement regarding statements by all the consumers and those classified according to their answers to habits
and experience questions.
Statements
Tot al
mean SEM
1 Unpleasant
experience
2 Read
information
3 Pork product
perception 4 Trimming fat
5 Fiber
consumer
Yes No Ye s No Yes No Yes No Ye s No
Animal concern
Animal welfare worries
me
7.5 0.141 77. 6 7. 9a7. 2 b7.5 7. 5 7. 8 a7b7. 6 7. 4
I know that sometimes
male pigs intended
for consumption are
castrated without
anaesthesia at birth
3.0 0.242 4.5 2.9 2.9 32.9 3.7 33.2 2.8 3.2
I think castration
of pigs without
anaesthesia should not
be performed
7.6 0 .231 7. 6 7.6 7.8 7. 4 7.7 7. 3 86.7 7. 6 7. 7
The castration of pigs
is justified because it
improves the smell and
flavour of the meat
4.2 0.272 5.6 4 .1 4.5 3.4 4.3 3.5 44.9 4.1 4.6
I believe that meat from
castrated pigs should
be labelled as such
7.4 0.206 7.4 7.4 8a6.8b7. 2 8.3 7.6 6.9 7. 3 7. 6
Fat perception
A high fat content
in a meat product is
negative for me
7.1 0.189 6.7 7.1 77. 2 77. 5 7. 6 a5.7b7. 1 7.1
Note: Different superscripts (a; b) indicate significant differences (p < .05) between consumers' classification within habit or experience after applying
the Krustal–Wallis test for independent samples. Scores from 1: ‘not at all agree’ to 9: ‘completely agree’.
6728
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TABLE 5 Beliefs of consumers by demographic characteristics and previous castration knowledge related to animal welfare issues and practices and fat content perception.
Attitude (N = 131)
Gender Age Education Employment Incomes
Area of
residence
Castration
knowledge
Female Male 18–3 0 31– 45 46–60 >60 P S UI A R Low Mean High Rural Urban Ye s No
Animal welfare issues and practices
Animal welfare worries
me
7.5 7.5 7.4 7. 3 7. 8 7.5 8.4a7. 2 b7. 6 ab 7. 4 7.6 7. 2 7.6 7.5 7.5 7. 6 7. 5 7. 4 7. 6
I know that sometimes
male pigs intended
for consumption are
castrated without
anaesthesia at birth
3.0 3.0 2.9 2.3 3.4 2.9 4.4 2.6 33.2 3.0 2.1 2.7 3.5 2.6 3.0 3.0 2.9 3.2
I think castration
of pigs without
anaesthesia should not
be performed
7.2 8.0 8.0 7. 2 7.7 7.6 8.0 7. 7 7.6 8.0 7. 5 7. 6 7.4 7. 5 7. 9 7. 5 7.7 7. 5 7. 7
The castration of pigs
is justified because it
improves the smell and
flavour of the meat
4.6 3.9 3.3 4.0 5.0 4.4 6.9a4.3b3.9b3.2a2.1b3.0a3.6 4.1 4.8 6.1a4.0 b4.9 4.0
I believe that meat
from castrated pigs
should be labelled as
such
7.7 7.2 7. 2 7.3 7. 6 7. 5 7. 8 7.7 7. 2 7. 3 7.4 7.8 7.2 7. 2 7.9 7. 7 7.3 7.4 7. 4
Fat content perception
A high fat content
in a meat product is
negative for me
7.2 7.0 6.9 7. 0 7.4 7. 0 7. 8 7.1 7.1 7.3 7. 1 6.9 7. 2 7. 2 6.8 6.5 7. 2 7. 3 7. 0
Note: Items in the same row and within classification category with different superscripts are significantly different (p < .05) after the application of a Krustal–Wallis test for independent samples; P:
Primary, S: Secondary, U: Higher/university; l, High; I: Inactive, A: Active, R: Retired. Bachelor's degree, Low: <200 0, Mean: 2000–2500, High: >2500. Scores from 1: ‘not at all agree’ to 9: ‘completely
agree’.
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EGEA e t al.
are castrated without anaesthesia at birth,” it must be pointed
out that in García- Gudiño et al.'s (2021) work, consumers neither
agreed nor disagreed (average score of 3.0) regarding the use of
castration. Other studies in Europe observed that even though
the surgical castration of piglets was criticized because of an-
imal welfare issues, a low importance was found on castration
in consumers’ purchasing intention or worries (García- Gudiño
et al., 2021; Kallas et al., 2013; Tomasevic et al., 2020). Even
though an effect of demographic characteristics was not found
on this statement in the present study. The item “The castration
of pigs is justified because it improves the smell and flavour of
the meat” received higher agreement scores from people with a
lower level of education, as compared to those with a higher level
of education (p < .05). Individuals who lived in rural areas also
scored this statement highly (p < .05), perhaps because they are
more aware of production practices and their reason for giving
this score is due to their proximity to the production areas. So,
if the market would add a label to remark that animals are not
castrated, it is possible that the consumer does not appreciate
this information, due to the lack of knowledge about this topic.
Nogueira et al. (2023) concluded in their study that technical ter-
minology does not have a positive effect on the participants. So,
perhaps, terms such as “animal welfare” should be better options,
since there is a more consistent response among participants re-
garding this term.
3.4 | Consumer beliefs toward fat content and
correlation between statements
With a global average score of 7.1 ± 2.17 (data not included in Table 5),
the total population surveyed considered that a product with high
content of fat was negative for them. This negative perception can be
observed in the increase in the consumption of fat- free products, as
demonstr ated in the st udy by Cabana (2010), where ou t of 94% of th e
people who ate meat, 59.6% claimed to consume fat- free pork, while
40.4% preferred pork with fat. Thus, there is an increasing interest
in developing meat products with healthier attributes (Polizer Rocha
et al., 2018). Gender, age range, level of education, income level, em-
ployment, area of residence, and previous knowledge about castra-
tion showed no significant (p > .05) effects on fat perception.
Table 6 shows the Pearson correlation coefficients between
the different statements studied. A correlation was found between
“Animal welfare worries me” and “I think castration of pigs without
anaesthesia should not be performed,” “I believe that meat from cas-
trated pigs should be labelled as such,” and the negative perception
of fat. However, even though it was significant, it was also very low,
and thus not relevant. The strongest correlation (r = .44) was found
between the previous knowledge of the castration of pigs and the
fact that it could be justified by its favorable effect on odor and fla-
vor. Other studies remarked that the perception of animal welfare
may be influenced by the level of knowledge (Pejman et al., 2019).
A lack of knowledge about a management practice can produce a
more negative reaction from consumers toward this practice. Thus,
non- connoisseurs of practices, such as castration, may view them
negatively, because they do not know either that these practices
are routinely performed or the reason behind them (García- Gudiño
et al., 2021).
Finally, people who stated that the fat content was negative
also agreed with the fact that castration without anesthesia should
not be performed, and that the labeling of meat from castrated pigs
should be required, but did not agree with the justif ic ation of castra-
tion to improve odor and flavor. It has been observed that consumer
behavior is multidisciplinary, in which many factors are involved, not
only the intrinsic characteristics of the product, but also external
factors such as psychosocial, ethical, animal welfare, environmental
impact, and sustainability (De Araújo et al., 2022; Font- i- Furnols &
Guerrero, 2014). Consumers increasingly demand healthier, safer,
and environmentally friendly products with specific rules that
meet their needs (Font- i- Furnols & Guerrero, 2014; Ruiz- Capillas
et al., 2021). Furthermore, they perceive animal welfare as a posi-
tive factor when purchasing a meat product (Tomasevic et al., 2022).
However, if this is detrimental to the intrinsic characteristics of the
product, such as the presence of boar taint, they grant priority to the
sensory quality of the product, as they do not want to see its sensory
qualities diminished (Ruiz- Capillas et al., 2021).
TAB LE 6 Pearson's correlation coefficients between the beliefs and statements of Spanish consumers about castration practice, welfare,
and fat content.
1 2 3 4 56
1. Animal welfare worries me 1
2. I know that sometimes male pigs intended for consumption are
castrated without anaesthesia at birth
0.150 1
3. I think castration of pigs without anaesthesia should not be
performed
0.191*0.005 1
4. The castration of pigs is justified because it improves the smell and
flavour of the meat
−0.015 0.435** −0.030 1
5. I believe that meat from castrated pigs should be labelled as such 0.328** −0.083 0.344** −0.080 1
6. A high fat content in a meat product is negative for me 0.226** −0.092 0.346** −0.382** 0 .262** 1
**p ≤ .01; *p ≤ .05.
6730
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EG EA et a l.
3.5 | Check- all- that- apply
Table 7 shows the results obtained through the “Cochran Q Test”
that was used to assess whether there were significant differences
between the different sausages used in the survey, and the attrib-
utes that consumers chose for each one. It is possible to see that
there were significant differences between types of sausages for
all attributes and terms evaluated (p < .05), except for the attrib-
ute “Bright.” However, the “bright” attribute was chosen more than
30 times for three out of four sausages, and 24 for the remaining
one. This might indicate the importance of this characteristic. In the
physical study of the same samples, Egea et al. (2020) observed that
there was a reduction in lightness in both the products with fat re-
duction and enriched with fiber (L*, control 54.3 vs. non- castrated
F6% 46.6 and non- castrated F3% 41.5). Color is a very interesting
parameter for cooked meat products, as consumers associate this
type of meat product with a bright and characteristic pink color
(product- specific) (Šojić et al., 2011). Morin et al. (20 02) found that
consumers preferred low brightness in meat and meat products.
This was apparently due to consumers associating lighter colors with
higher fat content, or it may simply be that they did not like lighter
sausages as much.
To visualize the relationship between all the attributes and the
different types of sausages, a correspondence analysis was per-
formed in accordance with the CATA contingency table (Table 7)
that produced a two- dimensional (2D) map (Figure 2). The first and
second dimensions explained 86.95% of the variance of the results
(44.75% and 42.20%, respectively) allowing us to differentiate three
groups. The first group consisted of the Castrated sample, a sausage
elaborated with the traditional recipe, which was mainly related to
the attributes and terms “fatty,” “juiciness,” “animal cruelty,” “appe-
tizing,” “unhealthy,” “cheap,” and “dark.”
The term “fatty” was first associated with the castrated group,
followed by the non- castrated, and logically, it was negatively as-
sociated with the fat- reduced products. One of the advantages of
castration is that animals tend to have a higher fat content, and
therefore more juicy meat (Škrlep et al., 2020). The association with
“fatty” could be related to the “appetizing ” term that was also impor-
tantly associated with sausages from castrated pigs. Meier- Dinkel
et al. (2016) carried out a study of consumers’ perception and accep-
tance of boiled and fermented sausage, in which fat from an entire
male pig was used in different percentages (0%, 50%, and 100%),
and also found that the 100% group was also associated to the term
“fatty.” Also, “unhealthy” was associated with the castrated group,
probably due to the “fatty” association with this product. These re-
sults are similar to those found by Polizer Rocha et al. (2018), who
remarked that there was a negative association between traditional
frankfurters being unhealthy, fat/calories, and high blood pressure,
and also, that the category “light/low calorie” was the second-
most mentioned for the stimulus “frankfurter with fat reduction.”
Therefore, in that study, it was possible to consider that the category
“healthiness” was relevant for the consumer. The results obtained
Attributes p- value Castrated Non- castrated
Non- castrated
F6%
Non- castrated
F3%
Dark .009 20b12ab 6a8a
Bright .274 36 33 35 24
Animal cruelty .001 40b17a13a32b
Dry .001 17 b34c10ab 5a
Fatty .001 84d45c5a24b
Light .001 11 a9a29b26b
Matte .001 8a43b5a41 b
Healthy .0 01 12a62b13a12a
Juiciness .001 52c8a35b30b
Appetizing .0 01 59c15a32b16a
Little fat .003 11a33b22ab 29b
Unhealthy .001 50b8a13a17a
Expensive .001 4a19b48c33bc
Animal friendly .001 4a11ab 23bc 25c
Unpleasant .001 15a8a35b41b
Cheap .001 27b12a34b7a
Note: Castrated: sausage made from castrated pork, with 30% pork back fat, and 70% lean ham,
made with a traditional recipe. Non- castrated: sausage made from entire, non- castrated pork, with
30% pork back fat and 70% lean ham. Non- castrated F6%: sausages made from non- castrated
pork, with 20% pork back fat, 6% (w/w) inulin, and 0.5% (w/w) β- glucan. Non- castrated F3%:
sausages made from non- castrated pork, with 20% pork back fat, 3% (w/w) inulin, 1% (w/w)
β- glucan, and 0.5% (w/w) grape skin. Different superscripts (a; b; c) between products indicate
significant (p ≤ .05) differences according to Cochran's Q test.
TAB LE 7 Frequency of mentioned
attributes for the four different sausage
samples.
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EGEA e t al.
by Dean et al. (2012), after an evaluation of the influence and per-
ception of consumers regarding nutritional claims, suggested the
hypothesis that when people are motivated by these claims, they
are susceptible to being influenced. Moreover, they tend to prefer
claims that describe a reduction in the risk of common diseases re-
lated to lifestyle, rather than claims that promote benefits to their
health. The present results also showed that “animal cruelty” and
“cheap” were associated with castrated animals. Similar results were
found by Aluwé et al. (2020) in an exploratory survey on European
consumer and stakeholder attitudes toward alternatives to surgical
castration of piglets, because castrating pigs was defined by con-
sumers as a cruel practice to animals, stressful, and which produced
cheap (low quality) meat.
The second group consisted of the sausages from non- castrated
male pig meat, elaborated with a traditional recipe associated to the
attributes “healthy,” “matte,” “dry,” and “little fat.” In the work by
Aluwé et al. (2020), the entire male meat was also associated with
natural (less greasy and healthier), cheap, and bad taste. In previous
studies where Frankfurt sausages were analyzed by consumers, the
category “healthiness” was the most frequently mentioned for the
stimuli (kinds of frankfurter) with healthier attributes (Polizer Rocha
et al., 2018). In the present study, sausages had no health claims.
The third group was comprised by the reduced samples (non-
castrated F6% and F3%), and both sausages showed a similar be-
havior, characterized by the following terms: “expensive,” “light,”
“little fat,” “animal friendly,” and “unpleasant.” And to a lesser extent,
these samples were associated to the “juiciness” attribute. This con-
firms that the consumer could perceive the results found by Egea
et al.'s (2020) study, where a trained panel evaluated these products,
and no differences were found for this attribute between sausages
with normal fat levels and the fat reduced with vegetable fibers. It
is not clear if the “healthy” term was associated with human or with
animal one. There was a correlation between “unhealthy” and “fatty”
of 0,402, but there was no clear relation between “healthy” and “less
fat.” It was expected that fat- reduced, and high and rich in fiber de-
scriptions would be associated to this term. Although some consum-
ers rely on the fat and fiber content of a product for its perceived
healthiness (Rizk & Treat, 2015), theclear association between fat-
reduced products with higher levels of fiber was not observed. Tobin
et al. (2014) found that most of the 548 consumers of meat prod-
ucts confirmed that they did not consider frankfurters to be healthy
products, mainly because of the high quantity of harmful chemical
substances, fat, and salt. In addition, Plasek et al. (2020), in a study
on the impact of extrinsic product attributes on demonstrating the
healthiness of functional food products, observed that in order of
importance, health claims/nutritional claims took the fifth place out
of six elements, and only the nutritional claim showed a significant
effect, while the tested health claim did not. It seems that consumers
may be skeptical about these claims and that health claims have only
a small influence on perceptions of healthiness.
An association of non- castrated F3% with “dark” was ex-
pected, but instead, this attribute was associated with “matte.”
Non- castrated F3% contains grape fibers that could have fla-
vonoids. These molecules are primarily involved in the color of
grape pomace, and it must be considered that the color of antho-
cyanins could vary from red to blue depending on the pH value.
In an acidic medium , ant hocy ani ns tur n red and in a ba sic medium,
blue (Mainente et al., 2019), what could be perceived as a less
bright sample.
In addition, sample F6% was associated with “cheap,” although
in this study, no price was considered. In this sense, Scudino
et al. (2023) observed that the attitude statements suggested the
critical role of the “price” factor in consumers’ perception. In other
studies, more expensive prices were associated with a frankfurter
FIGURE 2 Representation of the
average of sausage samples and the
correlation of the attributes selected by
131 consumers in the first and second
dimensions. Castrated: sausage made
from castrated pork, with 30% pork
back fat, and 70% lean ham, made with a
traditional recipe. Non- castrated: sausage
made from entire, non- castrated pork,
with 30% pork back fat and 70% lean
ham. Non- castrated F6%: sausages made
from non- castrated pork, with 20% pork
back fat, 6% (w/w) inulin, and 0.5% (w/w)
β- glucan. Non- castrated F3%: sausages
made from non- castrated pork, with 20%
pork back fat, 3% (w/w) inulin, 1% (w/w)
β- glucan, and 0.5% (w/w) grape skin.
Dark
Bright
Animal cruelty
Dry
Fatty
Light
Matte
Healthy
Juiciness
Appetizing
Little fat
Unhealthy
Expensive
Animal friendly
Unpleasant Cheap
Castrated
Non castrated
Non castrated F6%
Non castrated F3%
-1
-0.8
-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
-1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.81
1.2
F2 (42.20%)
F1 (44.75%)
Correspondance Analysis Graph
(Axes F1 and F2: 86.95 %)
6732
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EG EA et a l.
with natural antioxidants and a frankfurter with omega- 3 fatty
acids (Polizer Rocha et al., 2018). The price has an impact on con-
sumers' choices with respect to healthier products (Font- i- Furnols
& Guerrero, 2 014). Also, consumers' perceptions regarding health
are crucial in determining the acceptance of reformulations toward
healthier foods (Ares et al., 2008; Barreiro- Hurlé et al., 2010). One
important factor linked to consumers' judgment of the claims
about healthier products is familiarity with a functional com-
ponent—that is, with its health benefits (Giacalone et al., 2015;
Polizer Rocha et al., 2018).
4 | CONCLUSIONS
Animal welfare has been gaining great importance from consumers
in recent years, perhaps because they care about the state of the
animals and the quality of their products. Additionally, the practice
of castration is important for the consumer, but there is still great
ignorance about this practice by a greater part of the population, as
animal welfare concerns increased when consumers were provided
with additional information on this type of meat. However, there is
no clear position about the fact that if castration is justified whether
it would improve the smell and taste of the entire male pork, being
more approved by consumers with primary education level and
those who live in rural areas.
Most consumers perceive meat products as positive, although
most of them have high- fat content and they affirm that usually
used to trim the fat before they consume. The evaluation of the
four different products reflects that fresh sausages are associ-
ated with “animal cruelty” or “animal friendly” in relation to the
castrated or not castrated label. The high content of fat is one
of the factors that is related to the possible “unhealthy” term, fat
reduction and fiber addition were not enough to have a “healthy
association” in these kind of products, which in addition are re-
lated to an “unpleasant” term. Although reduced- fat entire male
pork sausages with vegetable fiber could be a good option for
marketing, uncastrated male pork will need more than fiber claims
to be associated with healthy products and the consumer should
be previously informed if he could appreciate the meaning of cas-
tration labeling.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Macarena Egea: Conceptualization (equal); data curation (equal);
formal analysis (equal); investigation (equal); methodology (equal);
validation (equal); visualization (equal); writing – original draft
(equal). M. Dolores Garrido: Conceptualization (equal); formal anal-
ysis (equal); funding acquisition (equal); investigation (equal); meth-
odology (equal); project administration (equal); resources (equal);
supervision (equal); validation (equal); writing – review and editing
(equal). Maria Font- i- Furnols: Conceptualization (equal); investiga-
tion (equal); methodology (equal); validation (equal); visualization
(equal); writing – review and editing (equal). Nuria Panella- Riera:
Conceptualization (equal); investigation (equal); methodology
(equal); validation (equal); visualization (equal); writing – review
and editing (equal). M. Belén Linares: Conceptualization (equal);
data curation (equal); formal analysis (equal); investigation (equal);
methodology (equal); visualization (equal); writing – review and
editing (equal). Irene Peñaranda: Conceptualization (equal); data
curation (equal); formal analysis (equal); investigation (equal);
methodology (equal); validation (equal); visualization (equal); writ-
ing – original draft (equal).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the consumer participant s who con-
tributed to our study by responding to the online survey.
FUNDING INFORMATION
Acknowledgments to the Ministry of Sciences and Innovation (MCI
(Ministerio de Ciencias e innovación: RTA 2017- 00039- 02- 02)),
State Investigation Agency (AEI (Agencia Estatal de Investigación)),
and National Agricultural Research Institute (INIA (Instituto Nacional
de Investigación Agraria)) of Spain for their financial support.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
DATA AVAIL AB ILI T Y STAT EME N T
Data will be made available on request.
ETHICS STATEMENT
Ethical approval for the involvement of human subjects in this study
was granted by Murcia University Research Ethics Committee,
Reference number ethics ID: 3566/2021, 13/10/2021. Participants
gave informed consent via the statement “I am aware that my re-
sponses are confidential, and I agree to participate in this survey”
where an affirmative reply was required to enter the survey. They
were able to withdraw from the survey at any time without giving
any reason. The products tested were safe for consumption.
ORCID
M. Belén Linares https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4903-2436
Irene Peñaranda https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8661-8677
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