Consumers Concerned About Food Safety

A spate of food recalls has left a large percentage of Americans wary about the nation’s food supply.

According to a recent IBM survey of 1,000 consumers in the 10 largest U.S. cities, more shoppers are worried about the safety of the food they buy at grocery stores—and their trust of food retailers, manufacturers and grocers has diminished.

Survey results reveal:

• 83% of respondents could name a food product that was recalled in the last 2 years because of contamination or other safety concerns.
• 46% named peanut butter as the most recognizable recall. Spinach came in a distant second, with 15% awareness nearly 2 years after an E. coli outbreak.
• 49% of respondents said they’re less likely to purchase a food product after a contamination-related recall; 63% confirmed they would not buy the food until the source of contamination had been identified and addressed.
• 8% said they would never purchase a recalled food again, even after the source of contamination was found and addressed.

These data should serve as a wakeup call for food growers and producers. A betrayal of the public trust has consequences that impact the bottom line. As IBM notes:

These findings underscore how the rise in recalls and contamination has significantly eroded consumer confidence in food and product safety, as well as with the companies that manufacture and distribute these products.

Tune in tomorrow for more eye-opening survey stats.

For Your Organic Bookshelf: Food Alert! The Ultimate Sourcebook for Food Safety

Photo courtesy of IBM

Tags: food safety, Health, Organic Food, recalls

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 9:08 am and is filed under Health, Organic Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.