EU consumers would pay more for animal welfare-friendly products, according to a survey carried out by Eurobarometer.

As many as 72% of UK consumers said farmers should be paid more for high welfare produce and 68% said standards needed to be higher. The survey was carried out among nearly 1,300 people in the UK as part of a 30,000-strong EU poll last autumn.

Newer member states such as Romania, Bulgaria and Latvia were even more concerned about the standards of welfare in their countries. The Greeks, Cypriots and Portuguese also rated it highly.

"The message from EU citizens is clear," said Markos Kyprianou, EU commissioner for health. "They view welfare as a priority and are willing to contribute to its promotion. The commission attaches great importance to improving animal welfare both in the EU and internationally."

Most of those who took part (89%) thought that imports from outside the EU should have to be produced under the same animal welfare conditions as those in the EU.

The Commission said there was a link in consumers' minds between animal welfare and food quality and safety. But they lacked information about production and welfare on which to make their choices.

When asked how animal welfare products should be distinguished in retail outlets, only 19% of Britons were in favour of written information on the labels. Forty per cent supported the idea of logos, 32% were in favour of colour-coding on labels and 27% wanted a scoring system for welfare.

However, responses across the EU were weighted more towards textual information on labels.

The Commission is still deciding on how to

standardise packaging indicators for animal welfare, but it is committed to the idea. Its Community Action Plan on the Protection and Welfare of Animals 2006-2010 even allows for a mandatory welfare label. More progress on this issue is expected from a conference hosted in Brussels by Germany this week.

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