Food Fears Hit Home For Consumers

Younger people tended to be more skeptical of the food industry’s efforts – two out of three (67%) saying not enough was being done by producers and processors to keep food safe. Confidence in the food industry’s efforts increased steadily with older respondents (who have obviously lived to eat more food than their younger counterparts), with six in 10 of those older than 70 saying they believe the food industry is doing a satisfactory job of keeping food safe. More men were supportive of the food industry’s efforts than women – 56% of them said they think the industry is doing a good job, compared to 42% of women.

And then there is the question of just how the industry goes about killing the bacteria that clings to our foodstuffs. In an effort to fight bacterial contamination, some companies have turned to food irradiation – the process of using various rays, like gamma rays and x-rays – to kill bacteria and parasites on food. Is this a case of the cure being worse than the disease? Apparently not, said more than half (57%) of our respondents. They said they support the use of food-irradiation technology, and 20% said they have purchased or consumed irradiated foods in the past. But one in three (34%) said they do not plan to knowingly purchase irradiated food in the future and 38% said they are unsure if they would buy irradiated food.

Nearly half (49%), said they oppose genetically modifying food for human consumption, while 12% said they were unsure. Only 27% of those polled said they had knowingly purchased or consumed genetically-modified foods. Two out of five said they would not purchase genetically-modified food, while 28% said they would and 28% were unsure.

Consumers give government decent grade for handling outbreak

While less than a third of those polled said the U.S. government should bear most of the responsibility for food safety, the majority (59%) said they believe the government is doing a good job of keeping the U.S. food supply safe. In this latest disease outbreak linked to the tainted spinach, three out of four said they believed the government worked quickly enough to inform consumers about the E. coli outbreak linked to prepackaged spinach.

One of the biggest challenges the government faces when dealing with an outbreak is that many people fail to report suspected food-borne illness, making tracking the source of an outbreak difficult, if not impossible. In our survey, 39% said they thought they had suffered an illness from food, but did not report it. Three out of four said they became sick after eating at a restaurant, while 13% said the illness was linked to food they ate at home.

Mad Cow Disease, bird flu spark little consumer concern

Despite a great deal of past media attention focused on mad cow disease and bird flu, the majority believe the U.S. meat supply is generally safe.

Three out of four (78%), said they believe the U.S. beef supply is safe, with 64% percent said media reports make no difference in how likely they are to eat beef. Almost one in three said they eat beef three to five times per week and 29% one to two times per week. More than half (57%) said they have purchased meat from a local supplier.

Similar to their feelings about beef, 75% said they believe the U.S. poultry supply is generally safe and media reports about bird flu would make no difference in how likely they would be to eat poultry. Nearly four in ten – 37% – said they eat poultry such as chicken or turkey three to five times per week, while 30% said they eat poultry one or two times per week. Thirty-seven percent said they have purchased poultry from a local supplier.

Consumers pay attention to food safety warnings

Media reports about food recalls and other food safety concerns can translate into a change of buying habits for many consumers, our polling shows. A huge majority – 72% – said they change what they buy just to be safe after hearing media warnings about the safety of a particular food.

More women (81%) than men (61%) said they were likely to alter their buying habits in the wake of media reports, as were the oldest respondents – 82% of those age 65 and older said they heed media food safety warnings.

Before the recent E. coli outbreak, almost half (46%) in our consumer panel said that fresh, bagged spinach was purchased only rarely in the course of an average month, while another 22% said they buy it several times per month. One in five said they never buy the stuff. Waiting out this particular food safety scare may not be much of a hardship for those who only occasionally or never eat prepackaged spinach, but it could be a much bigger issue if the recall were for a food more popular to the American palate. Only 11% of those polled said they purchased fresh bagged spinach one or two times per week before news of the outbreak.

While 59% said the recent E. coli scare increased their concern about eating fresh spinach, nearly half (46%) said they plan to purchase fresh, bagged spinach in the future. While 41% said bagged, fresh spinach is available again in the grocery store they shop in, 11% said it has still not been restocked and nearly half (48%) weren’t sure.

How long it will take for spinach to return to household and restaurant menus with the same regularity as before the E. coli scare? No one knows, but when it does come back, only about half (46%) said they’d feel safe ordering an item containing fresh spinach at a restaurant. More than half of men (58%) would be willing to order fresh spinach off a menu. Women were much more shy – just 36% said they would stomach such fare.

For many, food safety starts at home

While only 3% said consumers should be expected to be the strongest link in the food safety chain, the vast majority said they take steps to improve food safety in their homes.

Hand-washing topped the list of home safety precautions by those polled at 96%, while 93% said they wash produce and 92% said they make sure to store food at proper temperatures.

Two out of three (62%) respondents said they used separate cutting boards for meat and produce while 61% make using anti-bacterial products part of their food safety routine.

Three out of four polled said they believe the use of antibacterial products can help reduce cases of food-related illness. Overall, 86% said they use antibacterial products such as handsoaps, dish detergents or cleaners and 61% said they use antibacterial products every day. On the other end of the spectrum, 9% said they rarely use antibacterial products and 5% said they never use them.

Despite the apparent popularity of using antibacterial products, 64% said the products are used too often and 69% said they believe using those products too much can influence how well they work.