Research project
Consumer insights tracker
Research and consumer insight on behaviours and attitudes to food insecurity, food availability, consumer concerns and confidence in the food chain.
Background
The Consumer Insights tracker is a monthly survey commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and run by Ipsos UK. One of the FSA’s main statutory functions is to act as a generator of evidence and analysis on the areas for which it has policy responsibility. The FSA also gathers intelligence to inform policy areas where the FSA has a vested interest but are led by other Government departments. The FSA is focusing particularly on behaviour and experiences of consumers to act in their best interests. This is in line with research priority two (Understanding consumers and our wider society) of our Areas of Research Interest.
The Consumer Insights tracker monitors trends on consumer behaviour and attitudes in relation to the following topics:
- Food insecurity (including food affordability)
- Food availability
- Consumer concerns in relation to food
- Confidence in the food supply chain and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) as a regulator
Monthly bulletins dating back to April 2022 can be found in the next section. These bulletins summarise the key findings from that month’s data. Periodically, more detailed commentary and timeseries analysis is published. The latest report comments on data up to March 2023. Monthly data tables are available to download via the FSA’s data catalogue.
Month to month there may be methodological changes, therefore please refer to each bulletin for that month’s methodology. For some questions in this survey tracking data is available from April 2020, but the start dates vary for individual questions depending on when the FSA started collecting data on those issues.
How the consumer insights tracker differs from Food and You 2
In addition to the monthly Consumer Insights Tracker, the FSA collects more detailed data on a broader range of topics through the FSA’s flagship Food and You 2 survey. Whilst both surveys ask questions about food security, food-related concerns, and confidence in food, there are several differences between these surveys that users should be aware of when interpreting the findings, summarised in the table below. Due to these differences, data from these sources are not directly comparable.
| Difference | Consumer Insights Tracker | Food and You 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Topics covered | Food insecurity (including food affordability); food availability; concerns about food; confidence in food supply chain and the FSA | Food safety in the home; eating out and takeaways; food shopping; food hypersensitivities; food security; concerns about food; trust in FSA and the food supply chain; sustainable diets and food behaviour |
| Frequency | Monthly | Bi-annual |
| Survey method | Online omnibus | Push-to-web (online with postal option) |
| Sample | Representative quota sample of c.2,000 adults (16-75 years) across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Data is weighted to represent this population on the key demographics of age, gender, working status and social grade. | Random probability sample of c.6,000 adults (16 and over) across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Data is weighted to represent this population. Further details are provided in the Food and You 2 technical reports |
| Official statistic | No | Yes |
Research reports
Consumer insights tracker report: key findings from December 2021 to March 2022
Consumer Insights Tracker Report March 2022 - March 2023
Monthly updates
Revision log
Published: 13 April 2023
Last updated: 12 September 2023