What do Australian consumers think about Food Safety?

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) have recently released a research report – ‘Consumer Insights Tracker 2023: Trust and confidence in food regulation, use and understanding of food labelling, and food safety perceptions and behaviours’ – which has been launched to be an annual mechanism used to understand everyday consumers’ views on the food regulatory system used across Australia and New Zealand.

The good news for primary producers is that farmers are the most trusted part of the food chain by consumers to do their part to ensure that food sold in Australian shops and supermarkets is safe to eat.

The concern is that many consumers are still unclear about the difference between Use by and Best before dates and exhibit risky consumption behaviours as a result with male respondents being the worst offenders!

The research is based on an online survey of approximately 1,200 Australian and 800 New Zealand consumers aged over 18 years. It is a nationally representative sample by age, gender and location. The survey consists of approximately 40 quantitative questions that measure consumer trust and confidence in the food system, use and understanding of food labelling, attitudes and consumption intentions around new and emerging foods, and food safety perceptions and behaviours.

Trust and confidence in food regulation

People generally have confidence in the safety of the food supply, likely because they trust the food actors who make up our food system.

• 72% of consumers have confidence in the safety of the food supply
• All food actors were trusted by a majority of respondents, but most trusted were farmers and producers (trusted by 83%) and least trusted were manufacturers/processors (57%)

FSANZ is generally trusted by those who know something about what it does.

• Of those who know something about what FSANZ does, 79% trust FSANZ

Trust and use of food labelling

Consumers tended to trust back-of-pack labelling information more than front-of-pack. Trust in government predicted trust in back-of-pack labelling, while trust in food manufacturers/processors and retailers predicted trust in front-of pack labelling.

• 65% of respondents trusted mandatory food labels overall, however, some labelling elements were more trusted than others
• Most trusted were ‘Allergen information’, ‘Ingredient lists’, ‘Best before/use by dates’ and the ‘Nutrition Information Panel’
• Least trusted were ‘Claims about health benefits’ which were only trusted by 40% of respondents and ‘Claims about nutrition/ingredient content’ trusted by just 53% of respondents
• The Health Star Rating (which is not regulated by FSANZ) was trusted by only just over half of respondents and was predicted by lower levels of trust in retailers (e.g., shops and supermarkets)

Nutrition labelling is important to consumers, but there is a disconnect between the level of importance consumers give to nutrition content claims and the Health Star Rating, and their trust in them.

• Nutrition/ingredient content claims and the Health Star Rating were among the most important for making food choices but the least trusted indicating that consumers may feel that these are not adequately ‘regulated’ for veracity.

Health and dietary behaviours

Cost of living pressures and weight management are key factors affecting people’s food choices today.

• 65% of consumers reported cost of living pressures as a factor affecting their food choices, with 42% of consumers reported ‘watching my weight/others’ weight generally’ as a factor affecting their food choices and nearly 1/5 identified a food allergy or intolerance as affecting their dietary choices

People report being generally health conscious in their food choices, and tend to value nutrition above other food attributes (excluding taste and price).

• Nearly three-quarters of respondents (73%) reported that they put effort into maintaining a healthy diet
• ‘Nutrition ‘was both the most selected food value (by 66% of respondents) and the most commonly first-rated food value, excluding taste and price with ‘Naturalness’ coming in second

Food safety knowledge and behaviours

Foodborne illness was consumers’ key food safety concern, but there may be a gap in food safety awareness.

• Foodborne illness was the most common top 3 food safety issue (59%) and, by a large margin, the most commonly selected #1 food safety issue (31%)
• Product labels were by far the most preferred source of information on how to store and prepare food safely (chosen by 52% of respondents)
• Some significant differences in food safety behaviours was noted between older and younger consumers, and it appears that male respondents were ‘riskier’ in their approaches to food hygiene

What do these insights mean for fresh produce growers?

TRUST: It is great news, but no real surprise, that farmers are highly trusted (83%) by consumers to do their part to ensure that food sold in Australia/New Zealand shops and supermarkets is safe to eat.  It is critical to maintain this trust, meaning the focus on food safety on-farm needs to remain a very high priority for every grower.

HEALTH AWARENESS: Most respondents (72.6%) generally reported putting effort into maintaining a healthy diet. ‘Nutrition’ and ‘Naturalness’ were selected as the Top 1 and 2 food values that are important to consumers when choosing which foods to buy and most fresh produce delivers strongly on both these attributes.

FOOD SAFETY: Foodborne illness was highlighted as a key concern for consumers with 52% indicating that their preferred source of information about how to store and prepare food safely was the product label itself. Fresh produce brands that feature customised packaging could ensure clear communication about washing the product just before use where this is a recommendation.

Read the full study report here.