Consumer Preference and Willingness for Sheep Meat Quality and Safety

Food quality and safety issues are having greater attention among consumers, public health debate, policy makers, and industries in some in today¿s international market. As a result they are becoming an essential component of food consumption criteria in today¿s changing world. Especially, the quality and safety of animal source food have been raising in developing countries political agenda because of urbanization, population expansion and income growth especially in urban areas (Delgado et al., 1999). However, consumer confidence in food quality and safety has decreased and the concept of quality and safety has not been adequately defined in developing countries context. These trends in new demand-driven livestock revolution present real opportunities for livestock producers and considerable challenges to small-scale livestock producers. This perhaps explain why most smallholder producers have not been responding positively to these opportunities, particularly in Sub-Sahara Africa. Thus, in today¿s market, competition in animal source food is not only governed by production efficiency but also by the production and marketing of good quality and safer products.