Food Safety News – December 2010
Brits Not Fased By Food Safety Risks – Fact or Fiction?
A new survey shows that the British take a more measured approach to possible food safety risks than their European neighbours. The recent European-wide study has been carried out to determine how consumers within the European member states feel in regards to the safety of the food they consume. As with all reports, statistics can be interpreted in many ways and some of the headlines in press releases stated that Brits are un-fased by food safety risks. But this is not necessarily the correct picture.
In the study, almost 27,000 people were interviewed across Europe with 1,318 being interviewed in the UK .
Area One of the study concerned the ‘meaning and awareness of food related risks’. The candidates were asked ‘to what extent do you associate food and eating with each of the following areas?’
47% of candidates in the UK considered the safety of food to a large extent, (10% more than their European counterparts), 37% considered it somewhat, (5% less than the rest of Europe) in total 84% consider food safety, whereas in Europe there is a total of 79%.
29% of UK candidates believed that the food they eat could damage their health personally against 48% of European counterparts. This is worrying and may need to be addressed as this would suggest that the food safety and dietary health message is not necessarily getting through to the UK public as well as it is in Europe.
Area Two looked at concerns about food-related risks. Amongst other concerns, 49% of UK candidates showed that they were ‘worried’ about food poisoning from bacteria, against 62% of candidates in Europe. 50% of UK candidates were ‘worried’ about viruses such as avian or bird flu in food against 60% in Europe. 28% of UK candidates were ‘worried’ about having an allergic reaction to food or drinks compared against 48% in Europe.
Area Three concerned Public confidence and response to sources of information. The question asked ‘how did you react to the last information you heard, saw or read about a type of food being unsafe?’ 36% of UK candidates stated that they avoided the food mentioned in the story only for a while. 7% permanently changed their eating habits. 41% ignored the story and did not change their eating habits.
Area Four looked at the role and effectiveness of public authorities. 71% of UK candidates believed that there are strict laws in the EU to make sure that food is safe, compared to 66% of Europeans studied. 59% of UK candidates believed that food is safer compared to ten years ago, against 42% of Europeans studied. 66% of UK candidates believed that public authorities in the EU are doing enough to protect consumer from possible risks from bacterial contamination, health from your diet, 57% from chemical contamination, 48% from new technologies such as cloning and 63% from animal infections. UK candidates gave more positive results in all of these areas than their European counterparts.
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