Attitudes of Swiss consumers towards meat from entire or immunocastrated boars: A representative survey

Male piglets are castrated in order to prevent boar taint in pork. The surgical intervention is currently done without anaesthesia. Growing public concern about the welfare issue of this procedure forces the meat industry to evaluate alternative methods. The acceptance of such methods was studied in Switzerland within a large representative survey on the image of Swiss meat. Five questions were aimed at our subject.It was found that only a small part of the population has actually experienced boar taint. Nevertheless, the majority would not buy products made from tainted meat even if the absence of any perceivable boar taint and identical quality with current products could be guaranteed. The acceptance of meat from immunocastrated animals was low. Among the proposed four alternative methods, the production of entire males (with two options regarding processing of the tainted meat), immunocastration and castration with anaesthesia, only the last one seems to be acceptable to the interviewees.     

Consumer attitudes towards castration of piglets and alternatives to surgical castration

From three in-depth focus group studies and an internet based study concerning consumers attitudes towards surgical castration of piglets and alternatives, it can be concluded that Norwegian consumers are content with the current practice of castration using local anaesthesia. They accept castration as a necessary means to prevent the risk of boar taint in meat and thereby secure meat quality. Even though castration using anaesthesia is not a perfect solution, it is considered sufficient, and the consumers do not ask for alternatives. Most consumers were sceptical of immunocastration. The scepticism was mainly based on the fear of residuals in meat and unknown long-term consequences for the consumers. On the other hand the confidence in Norwegian control authorities is considerable, and will probably contribute to the maintenance of purchase habits even if immunocastration is to be introduced in Norwegian pig production. Castration without anaesthesia was characterized as completely unacceptable.     

Effect of information provisioning on attitude toward surgical castration of male piglets and alternative strategies for avoiding boar taint

Pork consumers know little about boar taint and the methods used to avoid it. As such, relevant information is necessary to assist consumers to judge the acceptability of different strategies to avoid boar taint. The effect of basic (T1) or extensive (T2) written information or T2 with supplementary audio–visual information (AV) on the opinion concerning immunocastration (IC), raising entire male pigs (EM) and surgical castration with anaesthesia (SA) as compared to castration without anaesthesia (SC) was investigated in a student population. Overall, IC was significantly preferred over SC. The information condition influenced the preference for IC and EM as compared to SC. Participants exposed to AV were more positive to IC than participants exposed to T1 and T2, and more positive to EM than participants exposed to T2. The impact of information condition was not affected by gender, farming experience, knowledge about the boar taint issue or personal relevance of pig welfare. Potential effects of providing background information and media campaigns on public surveys ought to be considered. Supplementary audio–visual information increased the impact of information provisioning.     

Attitudes of Spanish-speaking veterinarians interested in anaesthesia towards use of total intravenous anaesthesia in dogs: a survey study

ObjectivesTo describe Spanish-speaking veterinary anaesthetists’ attitudes towards use of total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA) in dogs.Study designProspective online voluntary survey.PopulationData from 300 answered surveys.MethodsAn anonymous questionnaire was sent via e-mail to representatives of the four largest Spanish-speaking veterinary anaesthesia and analgesia associations. It was distributed through mailing lists (Spain, Argentina, Mexico) or social media (Spain, Chile) to gather information on the use, opinions and perceived advantages of TIVA, as well as on preferred alternatives to isoflurane for providing general anaesthesia. Logistic regression was used to test for response associations.ResultsA total of 275 (92%) respondents had used TIVA (24% rarely, 36% sometimes, 40% very often or always). There was an association between a higher rate of TIVA usage and a low specialization level, less clinical experience and unavailability of anaesthetic gas scavenging systems. The main reasons for not using TIVA were lack of familiarity with the technique (92%), unavailability of infusion pumps (32%), established institutional anaesthetic protocol (32%), and technical difficulty (20%). Among frequent TIVA users, a higher proportion reported the greater ease of TIVA use (52%) compared to those that did not perceive such benefit (17%) [odds ratio (OR) = 5.2; 95% confidence interval (CI95), 1.7–16.6; p = 0.004). More respondents did not consider TIVA more expensive (60%) (OR = 2.1; CI95, 1.0–4.3; p = 0.034), more difficult to perform (59%) (OR = 2.5; CI95, 1.3–4.9; p = 0.006) or to manage the equipment (53%) (OR = 3.3; CI95, 1.4–7.8; p = 0.008), than inhalational anaesthetics. During isoflurane shortages, respondents reportedly preferred using an alternative inhalational agent (59%) rather than TIVA (47%).Conclusions and clinical relevanceTIVA use is widespread among veterinarians within the surveyed associations. Frequent TIVA users reported greater perceived advantages. In situations of isoflurane shortage, an alternative inhalational anaesthetic was preferred over TIVA.