Qualitative research to explore public attitudes to food safety

Monday 10 September 2001

Prior to the launch of the Food Standards Agency, research was required to explore public attitudes to food safety, and to inform development of a communications strategy to help position the new agency in relation to the current concerns and expectations of the public.

Interim findings from this study were presented to the Central Office of Information and the Food Standards Agency on Wednesday 15 March 2000. This report expands on the findings discussed in a spoken debrief given at the Central Office of Information on Thursday 13 April 2000.

The overall objective of this study was to explore the public's current attitude to food safety, and to elicit expectations of Government in this respect. More specifically, the study was required to investigate existing awareness and understanding of food safety amongst consumers, including coverage of the following:

• understanding of the issues which might be involved in 'food safety', and attitudes to it in general
• factors taken into account/priorities when purchasing food (convenience, nutrition, cost, product info, who purchased for etc)
• existing sources of information on food safety
• levels of concern, priorities
• perceived threats to food safety
• current confidence levels in various foods (meat, vegetables etc)
• confidence in levels of food safety across different sources (restaurants, fast food outlets etc)

The research also sought to understand perceptions of the current management of standards of food safety, including:

• perceived responsibility for ensuring standards
• confidence levels in government's ability to maintain standards
• awareness of, and attitudes to recent food scares
• information sources and requirements during scares
• attitudes to the media during food scares, and its perceived role
• awareness of the Food Standards Agency

Finally, the research was required to elicit responses to the proposed Agency, including:

• expectations of the Agency
• reaction to its proposed role
• understanding of, and attitudes to impartiality
• perceived implications
• saliency/relevance in current climate

For the full report, see the link below.