F&Y2 Wave 6: Chapter 2 Concerns about food

Introduction

The FSA’s role, set out in law, is to safeguard public health and protect the interests of consumers in relation to food. The FSA uses the Food and You 2 survey to monitor consumers’ concerns about food issues, such as food safety, nutrition, and environmental issues. This chapter provides an overview of respondents’ concerns about food.    

Common concerns

Respondents were asked to report whether they had any concerns about the food they eat. Most respondents (82%) had no concerns about the food they eat, and 18% of respondents reported that they had a concern ^{(footnote 1)}. 

Figure 3. Most common spontaneously expressed food-related concerns.

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Type of concern	Percentage of Respondents
Dietary requirements (not related to food hypersensitivities)	8
Food labelling	10
Food provenance	10
Environmental & ethical	10
Food contamination	12
Nutrition & health	19
Food production methods	21
Food quality	23
Food safety & hygiene	32

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Source Food and You 2: Wave 6

Respondents who reported having a concern were asked to briefly explain what their concerns were about the food they eat. The most common concerns related to food safety and hygiene (32%), the quality of food (23%), food production methods (21%), and nutrition and health (19%) (Figure 3) ^{(footnote 2)}

Figure 4. Most common prompted food-related concerns.

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Type of concern	Percentage of respondents
Being able to eat healthily	46
Food hygiene when eating out	46
The amount of salt in food	47
Animal welfare	50
Food poisoning	51
The amount of sugar in food	55
The amount of food packaging	56
The quality of food	61
Food waste	62
Food prices	65

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Source Food and You 2: Wave 6

Respondents were asked to indicate if they had concerns about several food-related issues, from a list of options. The most common concern was food prices (65%). Other common concerns were food waste (62%), the quality of food (61%), and the amount of food packaging (56%) (Figure 4) ^{(footnote 3)}.

Figure 5. Level of concern about food-related topics.

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Food-related topic	Not concerned at all	Not very concerned	Somewhat concerned	Highly concerned
The availability of a wide variety of food	10	35	37	14
Food produced in the UK being what it says it is	13	38	31	15
Food produced in the UK being safe and hygienic	9	37	31	18
Food from outside the UK being what it says it is	5	22	44	24
Ingredients and additives in food	5	20	44	27
Food being produced sustainably	5	21	43	27
Genetically modified (GM) food	9	22	34	27
Food from outside the UK being safe and hygienic	4	20	45	28
Animal welfare in the food production process	4	17	42	32
Affordability of food	2	8	36	51

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Respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which they were concerned about a number of specific food-related issues. Respondents were most likely to report a high level of concern about the affordability of food (51%). Other issues respondents were highly concerned about included animal welfare in the food production process (32%) and food from outside the UK being safe and hygienic (28%) (Figure 5) ^{(footnote 4)}. 

The reported level of concern about the affordability of food varied between different categories of people in the following ways:

• age group: respondents aged between 16 and 64 years were more likely to report that they were highly concerned about the affordability of food compared to those aged 65 years or over (for example, 55% of those aged 25-34 years compared to 37% of those aged 80 years or over). 
• children under 6 years in household: 64% of respondents with children under 6 reported that they were highly concerned about the affordability of food compared to 50% of those without children of that age in the household.
• annual household income: respondents with a lower income were more likely to report that they were highly concerned about the affordability of food compared to households with a higher income (for example, 59% of those with an income below £19,000 compared to 49% of those with an income between £64,000 and £95,999).
• region (England) ^{(footnote 5)}: levels of concern about the affordability of food varied by region in England. For example, respondents who live in the North-East of England (65%) and West Midlands (59%) were more likely to report that they were highly concerned about the affordability of food compared to those who live in London (45%).
• food security: respondents with very low food security (75%) were more likely to report that they were highly concerned about the affordability of food than those with low (65%) or marginal (56%) food security. Those with high food security were least likely to report that they were highly concerned about the affordability of food (44%).