Food technologies: findings from the 2008 British Social Attitudes survey

Contractor: National Centre for Social Research (NatCen)

The annual BSA survey is designed to chart continuity and change in British social, economic, political and moral values. It is an important data source for many government departments and this is the first time the Agency has funded questions. The survey is run by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), which each year publishes a report of the survey’s key findings.

The Agency commissioned a module of questions on the 2008 BSA survey to measure public attitudes to food technologies, including GM food, high pressure treatment, gas filled packaging and hypothetical food products that have particular health benefits.

This project is part of a package of work to support the Agency’s evidence base in relation to food technologies. In 2009, the FSA published an evidence review of public attitudes to emerging food technologies and qualitative research to explore attitudes to GM food, this was conducted as a follow-up study to the BSA survey questions on GM.

The Agency’s social science research is compliant with the Government Social Research service (GSR) Code of Practice and these reports are published with the GSR logo.

Levels of public knowledge of food technologies vary considerably. On a seven-item 'true or false' knowledge test, which was designed to test people's knowledge of certain processes or production methods and the purpose behind these, 19% of respondents answered less than three items correctly, 45% answered three or four items correctly and 36% answered five or more items correctly.

Attitudes to food technologies vary markedly across the public. The following characteristics are more common in people with a high level of concern – having less knowledge about food technologies, being older, being female, having a low income and having a high level of concern about food safety in general.

Familiarity with the terminology of food technologies appears to reduce levels of public concern. For example, 31% are concerned about eating food cooked in a microwave, whereas 57% expressed concern when asked about a magnetron (a less well-known term for a microwave)

Few people hold strong attitudes to GM food, and since 1999 there has been a notable increase in the proportion not holding a definite view. Those who do express a definite view (albeit not necessarily a strong one) tend to regard this technology negatively rather than positively, although in more recent years, there has been a slight increase in public support for GM food.