F&Y2 Wave 8: Chapter 1 Food you can trust

Introduction

The FSA’s overarching mission is ‘food you can trust’. The FSA’s vision is a food system in which:

• Food is safe
• Food is what it says it is
• Food is healthier and more sustainable

This chapter provides an overview of respondents’ awareness of and trust in the FSA, as well as their confidence in food safety and the accuracy of information provided on food labels. 

Confidence in food safety and authenticity 

Most respondents reported confidence (i.e., were very confident or fairly confident) in food safety and authenticity; 90% of respondents reported that they were confident that the food they buy is safe to eat, and 82% of respondents were confident that the information on food labels is accurate ^{(footnote 1)}. 

Confidence in food safety varied between different categories of people in the following ways: 

• Food security: respondents who were more food secure were more likely to be confident that the food they buy is safe to eat compared to those who were less food secure (for example, 94% of those with high food security compared to 82% of those with very low food security). 
• Regions (England): respondents in North-West England (95%) were more likely to be confident that the food they buy is safe to eat compared to those in the East Midlands (85%) and North-East England (85%).

Confidence in the accuracy of information on food labels varied between different categories of people in the following ways: 

• Annual household income: respondents with a higher income were more likely to be confident in the accuracy of food labels than those with respondents with a lower income, (for example, 90% of those with an income of £96,000 compared to 78% of those with an income of less than £19,000). 
• Food security: respondents who were more food secure were more likely to report confidence in the accuracy of food labels than those who were less food secure, (for example, 87% of those with high food security compared to 71% of those with very low food security). 
• Ethnic group: white respondents (84%) were more likely to be confident in the accuracy of food labels than Asian or Asian British respondents (72%) ^{(footnote 2)}.

Confidence in the food supply chain 

Almost three quarters of respondents (72%) reported that they had confidence (i.e., very confident or fairly confident) in the food supply chain ^{(footnote 3)}. 

Confidence in the food supply chain varied between different categories of people in the following ways: 

• Gender: men (76%) were more were more confident in the food supply chain compared to women (68%)**.
• NS-SEC: respondents in most occupational groups (for example 76% of those in lower supervisory and technical occupations and 81% who were long term unemployed and/or had never worked) were more likely to report confidence in the food supply chain than full-time students (57%).  
• Food security: respondents who were more food secure were more likely to report confidence in the food supply chain than respondents who were less food secure (for example, 76% of those with a high level of food security compared to 66% of those with very low food security).
• Ethnic group: white respondents (75%) were more likely to report confidence in the food supply chain than Asian or Asian British respondents (60%) ^{(footnote 4)}.

Awareness, trust and confidence in the FSA

Awareness of the FSA

Most respondents (90%) had heard of the FSA ^{(footnote 5)}.

Awareness of the FSA varied between different categories of people in the following ways:

• Age group: older respondents were more likely to have heard of the FSA than younger respondents (for example, 97% of those aged 65-74 years had heard of the FSA, compared to 78% of those aged 16-24 years).
• Household size: respondents in households of between 1 and 4 occupants (for example, 92% with a household size of 1), were more likely to have heard of the FSA than households with 5 or more occupants (79%). 
• Annual household income: respondents with an income of between £64,000 and £95,999 (96%) were more likely to have heard of the FSA than those with an income of less than £19,000 (84%).
• NS-SEC: respondents in most occupational groups (for example, 93% of those in intermediate occupations) were more likely to have heard of the FSA than full-time students (69%).
• Food security: respondents who were more food secure were more likely to have heard of the FSA than respondents who were less food secure (for example, 95% of those with a high level of food security compared to 84% of those with very low food security).
• Ethnic group: white respondents (93%) were more likely to have heard of the FSA compared to Asian or Asian British respondents (77%) ^{(footnote 6)}. 
• Responsibility for cooking: respondents who are responsible for cooking (91%) were more likely to have heard of the FSA than those who do not cook (72%).
• Responsibility for food shopping: respondents who are responsible for food shopping (91%) were more likely to have heard of the FSA than those who never shop for food (80%).  

Figure 1. Knowledge about the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

Bar chart showing reported knowledge of the FSA

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Description	Percentage of respondents (%)
I've never heard of the FSA	6
I hadn't heard of the FSA until I was contacted to take part in this survey	6
I've heard of the FSA but know nothing about it	32
I know a little about the FSA and what it does	49
I know a lot about the FSA and what it does	7

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Source: Food and You 2: Wave 8

Most respondents reported at least some knowledge of the FSA; 7% reported that they knew a lot about the FSA and what it does, and 49% reported that they knew a little about the FSA and what it does. Almost a third (32%) of respondents reported that they had heard of the FSA but knew nothing about it, 6% had not heard of the FSA until being contacted to take part in Food and You 2, and 6% had never heard of the FSA (Figure 1) ^{(footnote 7)}.

Trust and confidence in the FSA

Respondents who had at least some knowledge of the FSA were asked how much they trusted the FSA to do its job, that is to make sure food is safe and what it says it is. Most (72%) respondents reported that they trusted the FSA to do its job, 23% of respondents neither trust or distrust the FSA to do this, and 2% of respondents reported that they distrust the FSA to do this ^{(footnote 8)}. 

Most respondents (79%) reported that they were confident that the FSA (or the government agency responsible for food safety) can be relied upon to protect the public from food-related risks (such as food poisoning or allergic reactions from food). Over three quarters (78%) of respondents were confident that the FSA takes appropriate action if a food-related risk is identified and 72% were confident that the FSA is committed to communicating openly with the public about food-related risks ^{(footnote 9)}.