The organic meat market in West Balkan Countries (WBC) is quite young, but
steadily growing. The aim of this paper is to better enable understanding of WBC
consumers' awareness, attitude and perception towards organically produced meat,
i.e. to gain insight into
consumers’ preferences, motives, attitudes and interest to buy such
products in selected WBC (Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and
Serbia). This paper provides a comparison to the results obtained by researchers
in other countries. A questionnaire was completed by 900 respondents, which were
representative of the WBC population. The data were subject to univariate
analysis, chi-square tests, ANOVA and correlation analysis. Result indicated
that the definition of ‘organic’ is not yet clearly
installed in consumers’ perceptions. Consumers perceive organic meat
as healthy, safe, natural, tasty, expensive, environmental friendly and of good
quality. WBC consumers express a positive attitude towards organic meat. These
results are particularly useful for product marketing and future product
development in the organic food sector, as they provide an indication as how it
can better reach and satisfy existing organic food consumers, and possibly,
adapt organic food consumers in order to attract new segments and a new
generation of consumers.