Healthy food is nutritious, but organic food is healthy because it is pure: The negotiation of healthy food choices by Danish consumers of organic food.

There is increasing demand for organic food products throughout the Western world. Health concerns have frequently been found to be the main motivation of consumers purchasing organic products, but the literature on consumer preferences and behavior is less clear about what ‘health’ means to consumers of these products, and because of this it remains unclear what exactly drives consumers to choose organic products. This article investigates health from the perspective of consumers, and analyzes negotiations of, and justifications behind, their consumption preferences. The analysis is based on a focus group study conducted in Denmark in 2016. Three different understandings of health can be found when consumers explain their preferences for organic products: Health as purity; Health as pleasure, and a Holistic perspective on health. The first two are familiar from the literature on food. The third, which reflects principles behind organic agriculture, is less documented in the context of consumption. Health as purity was the dominant understanding of health used by the participants when explaining why they purchased organic food products. When participants discussed healthy eating in general, detached from a specific context, most employed a purely nutritional perspective as a definitive argument in supporting claims about healthy eating. The paper’s findings have implications for future research on organic consumption. They also have practical implications for organic food producers and manufacturers

Dyreetik i økologisk husdyrhold

Det sidste årti har bragt store fremskridt for dyrevelfærden i det økologiske husdyrhold, men der er stadig store udfordringer

Kan vi med god samvittighed spise økologisk flæskesteg?

På denne årstid er de fleste danskere meget glade for dyr – stegte og serveret med brune kartofler og rødkål. Nogle danskere gør sig dog også nogle tanker om, hvordan dyrene egentlig har det, inden de havner på bordet til julemiddagen eller julefrokosten. De mere samvittighedsfulde med pengepungen i orden vælger på den baggrund ofte at købe kød fra dyr, der er produceret under særlige forhold. Man kan fx købe en økologisk flæskesteg. Er det en god måde at sikre dyrevelfærden på

Welfare in horse breeding

Welfare problems related to the way horses are bred, whether by coitus or by the application of artificial reproduction techniques (ARTs), have been given no discrete consideration within the academic literature. This paper reviews the existing knowledge base about welfare issues in horse breeding and identifies areas in which data is lacking. We suggest that all methods of horse breeding are associated with potential welfare problems, but also that the judicious use of ARTs can sometimes help to address those problems. We discuss how negative welfare effects could be identified and limited and how positive welfare effects associated with breeding might be maximised. Further studies are needed to establish an evidence base about how stressful or painful various breeding procedures are for the animals involved, and what the lifetime welfare implications of ARTs are for future animal generations