Eureka! Institutional Repository

Dairy products constitute a major part of the Greek’s diet. However, while dairy products are an extremely important daily source of nutrients for human consumption, their production is associated with enormous environmental impacts. The main source of pollution in the production of dairy products is the release of greenhouse gases and, secondarily, from livestock waste. The purpose of this research was to investigate the interest and knowledge of consumers about these impacts. For this purpose, a short questionnaire was used in a sample of 50 consumers. Accordin to the results of this survey, some consumers are aware of the environmental impact of dairy production and are willing to participate in actions to reduce the phenomenon and partly to change their eating habits. However, they have no deeper knowledge of how the natural environment is burdened by the production of dairy products. There is also a part of consumers who are ignorant of these impacts, but they are also willing to participate in the fight against this phenomenon. Also according to the results of the present research, consumers appear to be divided regarding organic dairy products, in the sense if they are indeed more ecofriendly. Lastly, the policy of our country and the European Union is judged to be inadequate by citizens, although much of the sample declares ignorance of this policy.