Salt, fat and sugar in top five food concerns

Wednesday 16 March 2005

People are increasingly concerned about their diet and health, according to the Agency's fifth Consumer Attitudes Survey published today.

Salt levels are the top food concern, with fat and sugar also appearing in the list of top five.

More people than ever before are checking food labels to find out how much salt, fat and sugar is in the food. Over the past five years, among people who check labels, the number of people who say they look for nutritional details has risen to 75% in 2004, from just over half in 2000.

Gill Fine, Director of Consumer Choice and Dietary Health at the Food Standards Agency said:

'Over the last five years the trend among consumers has been towards healthier eating and an increase in demand for reliable and practical information on all aspects of nutrition, food and health. People are more worried about levels of salt, fat and sugar in food and the accuracy of food labels, and less concerned about issues like BSE.

'To meet the growing demand for information about nutrition and healthy eating, the Food Standards Agency has launched a new website - www.food.gov.uk/eatwell - dedicated to providing reliable and practical advice on all aspects of food, diet and health, as well as helpful tips on topics such as understanding food labels.'

The level of concern about BSE has fallen by almost a quarter since 2000.

Other five year trends include:

• the number of people claiming to have eaten five portions of fruit and vegetables the previous day has risen from just over a quarter in 2000 to half of all consumers in 2004
• knowledge of the '5 a day' message of eating fruit and vegetables has increased from 43% in 2000, to 58% in 2004
• concern about the safety of raw beef has fallen dramatically, from over half of all consumers in 2000, to just over a third in 2004
• concern about the accuracy of food labelling has risen from 35% in 2000 to 44% in 2004