Best broiler husbandry system and perceived importance of production aspects by Dutch citizens, poultry farmers and veterinarians

The objectives of this study were to explore the views of Dutch citizens, poultry farmers and poultry veterinarians regarding: (1) best broiler husbandry systems; (2) the importance of production aspects of broiler production and (3) the relation between best husbandry system and the importance of production aspects. Therefore, we surveyed by an online questionnaire the perceptions of Dutch citizens, poultry farmers and poultry veterinarians. According to our findings citizens perceived the free-range system with outdoor access as the best husbandry system and farmers and veterinarians perceived the conventional system as the best system. Citizens, farmers and veterinarians scored broiler health and food safety as the two most important production aspects and they scored animal welfare as equally important. Higher perceived importance of (indicators of ) animal welfare and environment, together with a lower perceived importance of economic aspects, such as cheap broiler meat, broiler farmer income and broiler growth rate, was related to the choice for a more extensive system. The aspects food safety, risk broiler farm to human health and taste of broiler meat were not related to the choice for the best system. This study is a first step to analyse based on which moral values people weigh dilemmas such as animal welfare versus risk broiler farm to public health. These insights can contribute to the development of poultry production systems that are more socially accepted.