Percepção do consumidor em relação à certificação da carne bovina em Belo Horizonte

Abstract

Brazil has today a position of great importance in the international meat market, which is due to many factors ranging from natural conditions, available land, favorable climate, labor and genetics. To occupy this position in the market, the various chain links, Government, Rural Producers, and Slaughterhouse Refrigerators had to adopt different procedures to ensure the safety of meat from the farm to the consumer's table. Among the requirements for international trade is the traceability and certification of our products. Although rural producers, slaughterhouses, merchants, and international buyers well know traceability, which is already the subject of countless studies evaluating their approval, difficulties, and cost of implementation, little is known about the knowledge and interest of Brazilian consumers regarding traceability and certification. In this work, a questionnaire was used to verify, from the consumer point of view of Belo Horizonte, the importance of the use of traceability in Brazil and certification of marketed products, providing new information for producers and the refrigeration industry to plan strategies focused on the consumer market, as well as for the government to establish public policies more directed to the interest of the population. The results showed that the levels of consumer knowledge about the production, traceability and certification systems are not associated with the social extract of which it takes part. No significant differences between the various extracts were identified, however the frequency of consumption of the different types of meat was influenced by consumer knowledge about production, traceability and certification systems. However, associations were identified between the frequency of consumption of the different types of meat and the knowledge about the production methods, knowledge about the control of residues of hormones and antibiotics, and the certification and traceability of beef.