The objective of this experiment was to study the behavior of chicken consumer, with emphasis on animal welfare and on the willingness to pay a higher value for products with certification for this attribute of quality. Thus, a market research was conducted with consumers of broiler meat in the city of Curitiba, Paraná. A primary analysis was done with experts of the avian chain. After this, 481 consumers were interviewed. Straight questions generated general information and images of the hypothetical products generated information about buying attitudes, using conjoint analysis. The most expressed attributes during the act of buying were shelf-life date, price, color and odor. Animal welfare was considered by a minority of 3.7%. Of the interviewed, 68.5% did not know the production system, but after having observed photos of the systems, they believed that the semi-intensive system provided higher animal welfare and originated a better product. It was possible to observe that low price, production with better conditions of animal welfare, firm pink meat, and production without antibiotics, respectively, present the highest utility values. The attribute of greater importance was price (34.1%), followed by the type of meat (24.6%), animal welfare (24.1%), and the usage of antibiotics (17.0%). The consumers said they would pay more for products that had attributes of animal welfare and firm pink meat. The low initial importance of animal welfare might be related to lack of knowledge of production systems by consumers, and that the improvement in information increases the disposition to pay more for this attribute.
buying attitude; consumer demanding; quality of the product
