Do Household Attitudes about Food Defense and Food Safety Change Following Highly Visible National Food Recalls?

The article reports results from three large Internet surveys of US residents' attitudes and concerns about terrorism in the US. Funded by the National Center for Food Protection and Defense, the surveys were administered by TNS-NFO, a large, private global market research firm. The baseline survey obtained responses from 4,260 US residents. Sample sizes for the later surveys were smaller but still substantial. Public confidence in the safety of the food supply fell between August 2005 and June 2007, following the well-publicized national food recalls that occurred during that interval. Consumers were ranked as least or second least responsible for food safety by more than 29% of respondents in all three surveys. Respondents were also asked to rank particular categories of food by the likelihood that it would be deliberately contaminated. The increase in the percentage of the antiterrorism budget can be attributed to the recent highly visible food safety incidents.