The present study was conducted to understand non-vegetarian consumer behavior, preferences, hygienic considerations and their expected changes in meat selling business. A questionnaire in Marathi language was designed with Google form for this online survey. Under these 194 (172 Male and 21 Female) respondents from all regions of Maharashtra state were surveyed. The study revealed that majority of consumers (90.21%) preferred hot, freshly slaughtered chicken meat (77.32%) which include all body parts of the carcass (56.19%) and them (70.62%) usually preferred to eat non-vegetarian food once or twice in a week. About 68.59% consumers preferred skinless chicken carcass slaughtered by any ritual method (53.76%). The study indicates that most of the consumers (70.62%) usually buy meat from the meat shop near to their residence and nearly 42.78% consumers showed concern about cleanliness and hygienic condition of the meat selling shop where from they buy non-veg products. Most of the consumers (82.38%) showed their willingness to purchase home delivery of minimal handled hygienic meat and for this they (86.17%) are ready to pay a slightly higher price. It indicates consumer concern about safety of food, but surprisingly, they are unaware of the food laws, quality guidelines, food safety standard. Almost all consumers (96.89%) agreed that there is a need to raise awareness and to educate consumers regarding this issue.
The Maharashtrian consumers usually preferred freshly slaughtered chicken meat.
Consumers are concerned about safety of non-veg food.
They showed willingness to buy home delivery of machine cut meat.
They are ready to pay slightly higher price for this.
The Maharashtra is the second-most populated state in India having 112,372,972 populations according to 2011 census. Herein decade the state of Maharashtra has registered a growth of 15.99% altogether population. Maharashtra state had 9.29% of the total population of India (
The state of Maharashtra produced approximately 517.5 thousand metric tons of poultry meat in financial year 2017 (
Online survey was conducted by using Google form in which questionnaire was prepared in Marathi language containing questions related to meat consumption, awareness of consumers concerning type of meat, meat shop hygiene, meat packaging, etc. Total sample sizes of 194 respondents were taken for the survey from all regions of Maharashtra and therefore denote diversified population. Data obtained through survey form questionnaires were documented in a database formed in MS Excel 2016. The collected data were grouped together and presented in the form of frequencies and percentage.
The background information on Gender, place of residence and source of purchase of meat and meat products by consumers has been depicted in
Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. Food safety has emerged as a very important global issue with international trade and public health implications. So as to make sure that the food sectors match up to the best global standards, the Government of India enacted an integrated food law called the Food Safety and Standards Act in August 2006 under this law Food Safety and Standards Authority of India was established which is that the regulating body associated with food safety and laying down of standards of food in India (
Respondent background and Source of Purchase of Meat and meat products
The non-veg consumption pattern and preferences for non-veg by consumers are given in
Preferences and Consumption pattern of consumers
Value added processed meat products increase expediency to consumers by diminishing preparation time and curtailing processing steps. They are apprehending their share in the market. The growth of value-added processed meat products in the country is promising and is providing a massive opportunity for entrepreneurship progress (
With the advancement of in acquaintance about the food they consume, the consumers have become more cautious regarding the quality and health aspects of foods (
Hygienic considerations
From the obtained data it is revealed that about 82.38% consumers show their interest to buy minimally handle machine cut hygienic meat. They also showed willingness to purchase home delivery of neatly packaged non-veg product home delivered (66.84%). The current finding showed consumers (86.17%) are ready to pay a slightly higher price for hygienic, clean non-veg products. About 36.27% of the consumers were unaware about safe storage of meat and meat products for more than three days, which restrict the sale and consumption of frozen or chilled packaged meat products. This could be due to 45.60% consumers were unaware of the quality guiding principle for chicken or mutton. On the query regarding inevitability to raise awareness, almost all consumers (96.89%) were agreeing on the need to spread knowledge and awareness about quality, hygienic production and safety standards for meat.
The present study revealed that most of the Maharashtrian consumers prefer chicken meat followed by mutton and other type of non-veg. From the findings of the study it can be concluded that maximum number of consumers purchased non-vegetarian foods one to two times in a week and they usually preferred freshly slaughtered meat processed in front of their eyes from same shop which is located near to their residence, where they had trust and ensure meat quality. Nonetheless, they showed their willingness to buy home delivery of machine cut, hygienic meat and they are ready to pay a slightly higher price for this. More than half percent consumers preferred to buy skinless chicken, which could be benefiting the meat processor, because scalder, defeathering machine will not require hence, an initial investment of the meat processor will be low. It can be also concluded that consumers are concerned about the safety of non-veg food, but maximum people were uninformed of the food laws and food safety, hence, there is a great necessity to educate consumers concerning issues related to meat quality and hygiene through trainings and awareness programs.
Author acknowledge financial support for carrying out this study under DST-SSTP Project entitled “Dissemination of poultry and goat meat processing technology and establishment of meat processing demonstration unit for livelihood upliftment of farmers and butcher communities of Marathwada Region, Maharashtra” (Project No DST/ SSTP/2018-19/30 (G and C)).