Meat doesn’t come from the supermarket!:

Do parents in households that eat meat find telling children where meat comes from to be a challenging experience? Are there family activities that make conversations about meat production more or less challenging?

These questions form the basis of a new pilot study at the University of Adelaide aimed at understanding Australian family attitudes to meat eating and the use of animals for food production among the under-researched group of families who consume meat products.

The welfare of animals produced for food has become an area of concern in the community with increasing sales of products labeled as humanely-produced (eg. 'free-range') and recent media campaigns highlighting animal production methods such as intensive livestock farming.

"There is limited research on how we form our earliest ideas and beliefs about the processes associated with farming animals for meat, particularly outside of those groups such as vegetarians who have decided against having their children consume meat,” according to Associate Professor Rachel Ankeny from the university’s School of History and Politics.

Learning about food and the values associated with it usually occurs in the home. Although increasing numbers of Australians indicate they are concerned about animal welfare, they report varying levels of knowledge about animal production practices.

Associate Professor Ankeny said: "We expect that for many parents talking about where the meat being consumed in their household comes from may be one of those taboo or difficult topics, right up there with sex or drugs, but one that many kids want to know about."

This pilot study will use an online survey to explore Australian parents' attitudes to talking to their meat-eating children about meat production and other family activities related to animals.

"We hope that this research will give us more information on what parents think about talking with their children about meat production and what support might be provided to help them do so in a constructive and accurate manner," Associate Professor Ankeny added.

The survey will be open for approximately 6 weeks and is open to adults who currently reside in Australia who have meat-eating children between the ages of 2 and 16.

For more information or to participate in the study go to: ua.edu.au/foodresearch