Abstract
The livestock industry must balance economic viability, environmental responsibility and social acceptability to maintain sustainable animal-source food (ASF) production. Productivity gains have improved environmental impacts of livestock systems, yet economic viability is challenged by the low proportion of income spent on food. Social acceptability presents the greatest challenge, as consumer ASF buying behaviors are influenced by myriad factors, including bad news bias, bounded rationality, confirmation bias and cognitive cognition (Capper and Yancey, 2015). Recent campaigns advocating ASF-free diets gained significant publicity (though effected relatively little change; Miceli, 2018), primarily founded upon the suggestion that anthropomorphic principles should be applied to assess whether ASF production and consumption is morally justifiable. Suggestions that livestock feed competes with human food; intensive farming has negative effects on animal health; extensive systems are environmentally-beneficial or animal agriculture is responsible for antimicrobial resistance appear intuitively logical, however, are not supported by science (Capper, 2017). It is essential to encourage a culture of evidence-based ASF buying decisions, which involves confronting the “everybody knows” rhetoric. This is challenging in an era where television and the internet have overtaken traditional print media as information sources. We must acknowledge that if specific management practices are not socially unacceptable, we should develop alternatives. However, this must occur without compromising economic or environmental sustainability, and this may be a crucial tipping point. As an industry, we must combine improved communication mechanisms with a better understanding of how consumers make food choices, to ensure a sustainable future for ASF production. Capper, J.L. 2017. Looking forward to a sustainable future – how do livestock productivity, health, efficiency and consumer perceptions interact? Cattle Practice 25:179–193.Capper, J.L., and J.W. Yancey. 2015. Communicating animal science to the general public. Animal Frontiers. 5:28–35.Miceli, D. 2018. Veganuary 2018: the results are in! https://veganuary.com/blog/veganuary-2018-the-results-are-in/ (Accessed 21 March 2018).