A new report on food consumption in Austria shows that there are differences between expectations, self-perception and actual purchasing behavior. “Especially when it comes to meat, we often have very high expectations of food production, but then buy the cheapest,” said Maria Fanninger from the club “Land creates Life” on Tuesday at a press conference.
“As a society, we are perhaps a little hypocritical in this area,” said Hannes Royer of “Land creates Life” with regard to the difference between what is politically demanded and what is promoted through purchasing decisions. In a recent RollAMA survey, almost every second person surveyed stated that animal welfare is important when shopping. In contrast, the organic share of pork in this country is only four percent, as the report shows – only 1.4 percent of this is consumed in Austria, while the rest is exported. Raising awareness and increasing transparency would be countermeasures to focus more on conscious consumption.
In this context, the experts also renewed the political demand for mandatory labelling of origin and husbandry in the food trade, including for imported goods, as well as in restaurants and communal catering. “Although husbandry labelling is particularly controversial among farmers, we believe that more transparency leads to higher quality in the long term,” said Royer. This development has also been seen in a wide variety of other areas. But there also needs to be a commitment from consumers: Farmers would build an animal welfare barn for the next 30 years, for example, and it requires high investment – “If the consumer then decides following three years to buy cheap products once more, who will pay back the loan?” he asked.
In addition, promotions play a major role in food retail in this country: with an average of 30 to 40 percent, the proportion of promotions is only higher in the Czech Republic compared to the rest of the EU. When buying meat, the proportion was 44 percent in 2023. The products that are most frequently bought on promotions in Austria, however, are beer and coffee. For beer, the proportion is around 70 percent – during major events such as the current European Football Championship, this figure rises once more.