Attitudes Toward Food Safety and the Food System Andrew J. Knight, Michelle R. Worosz, Craig K. Harris, and Ewen C.D. Todd Food Safety Policy Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, INTRODUCTION METHODS RESULTS CONCLUSION REFERENCES 1.Mead, P.S. et al Food related illness and deaths in the United States. Emerging Infectious Diseases 5(5), ABSTRACT This research examines how consumers perceive food safety and the effectiveness of the food safety system. The goals of this research are two-fold. (1) we seek to determine whom consumers think should be responsible for food safety and how consumers perceive food safety within the food system. (2) we examine consumer knowledge about the levels of foodborne illness and whether they believe these levels are acceptable, as well as whether consumers are willing to spend more on food to insure a greater degree of safety. A majority of consumers believed that the government, food processors, farmers, grocery stores, restaurants, and average Americans are doing a good job, and are competent and committed to food safety, although the government should devote more resources to insure foods are safe. Respondents indicated that the federal government should be most responsible for food safety, followed by food processors, and individual consumers. The majority of respondents indicated that the current level of foodborne illness is unacceptable and suggested that they would be willing to pay more to insure that the foods they eat are safe. Foodborne pathogens cause 76 million illnesses and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year. 1 As problems can occur at any stage in the food chain from farm to fork, each actor in the food chain impacts the safety of the food supply. Consumer perceptions of food safety should not be ignored because these perceptions not only affect purchase intentions but also their food handling practices. An underlying question is why do consumers tend not to practice food safety behaviors in their homes, even when they state they are concerned about food safety? Previous studies suggest that a lack of education about food safety and cognitive factors, such as optimistic bias, are responsible for this discrepancy. In this research, we investigate two alternative explanations. (1) consumers may think the food they buy is safe because other actors are responsible for food safety and those responsible actors are doing a satisfactory job of ensuring food safety; and (2) consumers may believe the risks associated with foods are acceptable. Telephone interviews were conducted by the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University between October 2005 and February Random digit dialing was used to generate a representative sample (1,014) of U.S. adults; the cooperation rate was 55%. For results based on these samples, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is ±3 percentage points. Results were weighted to reflect the socio-demographic composition of the U.S. population. We found that consumers had relatively high levels of concern about food safety, but previous research has shown that concern has not translated into safe food hygiene practices. These results indicate that consumers conceptualized food safety as a system; a plausible hypothesis for further investigation is whether consumers have unsafe food hygiene practices because they believe other actors are responsible for food safety and they expect that the foods they buy will be safe. However, when provided information about the prevalence of foodborne illness, consumers stated that the current level of food safety was unacceptable, and they were willing to pay more for increased safety of food items. Figure 2. Percentage of respondents who stated that these actors were doing a good or very good job; were somewhat or very capable; and were very or somewhat committed to food safety. In general, consumers believed that those responsible for the food system take food safety seriously. Respondents ranked their performance, capability and commitment to food safety higher than the other food system actors, and ranked Average Americans lowest (Figure 2). As illustrated in Table 1, consumers were concerned about food safety issues. In particular, they were most concerned about pesticides and chemical residues and foodborne illness. 41% 46% 49% Respondents stated that the federal government should be most responsible for insuring that the foods they eat are safe (Figure 1). When provided estimates on the toll of foodborne pathogens, most respondents found these estimates to be unacceptable Figure 6). Consumers stated that the federal government (FDA and USDA) do not have enough resources to insure that the foods they eat are safe (Figure 3). Figure 3. “Do you think each of these groups have enough resources, that is staff, expertise, money, and information, to insure that the foods you eat are safe?” (Percentage who answered yes). Figure 1. “Which one of the following groups do you believe should be most responsible for insuring the foods that you eat are safe?” Figure 6. Do you think this percentage is 1=very acceptable, 2=somewhat acceptable, 3=neither acceptable nor unacceptable, 4=unacceptable, 5=very unacceptable The CDC estimates that about 25% of the population will get sick because of consuming contaminated foods and beverages. The CDC also estimates that < 1% of the U.S. population or about 325,000 people are hospitalized because of foodborne diseases in a given year. The CDC estimates that of those who are hospitalized, < 2% of them or about 5,000 people die because of foodborne diseases. A majority of respondents would be willing to pay more for food if the number of hospitalizations due to foodborne illness could be reduced by 50% (Figures 6a and 6b). (7)(8) Figures 7 and 8. “Some food experts believe that the number of hospitalizations due to foodborne diseases could be reduced by 50% through more stringent measures. However, this would increase the costs of food for the average family.” (7) “Would you be willing to pay an extra … percent per year in your family food bill for this higher level of safety?” (8) “If the average family currently spends $5,400 on food, would you be willing to spend …dollars per year in your family food bill for this higher level of safety?" Table 1. “Are you concerned about….(food safety issue).” If the respondent answered “yes”, they were asked “how concerned are you about…(food safety issue).” Consumers are inclined to underestimate the incidence of foodborne illness (Figures 4 and 5). Under-estimated Actual estimate Over-estimated Do not know (5) Figure 4. About what percentage of the U.S. population do you think gets sick from consuming contaminated foods and beverages each year? Figure 5. Have you had a case of foodborne illnesss within the last year, or not? (4) 34%48% 11% 8%