Consumer attitudes toward issues in food safety

The objectives of this study were to evaluate consumer attitudes regarding the safety of the food supply, relate food safety concern levels with groups of specific items, regulatory issues and prioritization of food safety funding areas, and to evaluate attitudes and behaviors toward specific food safety issues. As general level of concern with food safety increased, so did concern with chemical, microbiological and regulatory issues. Concern with microbiological issues was higher than in previous studies. Only about 15% of the consumers thought they had contracted a foodborne illness during the last year; > 40% thought the source was restaurant food and > 25% thought the source was a school or church event. Concerns with cholesterol, salt and sugar were significantly higher than in previous studies. Consumers were very concerned about the inspection of imported foods and restaurant sanitation; however, they did not assign a high priority to funding of regulatory issues such as hiring more inspectors. The majority of consumers surveyed think that genetically modified foods, irradiated foods, food from animals treated with hormones or treated with antibiotics found safe by the Food and Drug Administration, are safe to eat (80, 77, 72 and 74%, respectively); however, about one-third would not purchase them, and more than 20% have reduced their consumption of some foods because they think they are irradiated, contain genetically modified organisms or are derived from animals treated with hormones or antibiotics.