Food: Public Opinion

(asked on 10th June 2014) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of public trust in the authenticity of food purchased at food outlets in each (a) region and (b) local authority area since January 2013.


Answered by
George Eustice Portrait
George Eustice
This question was answered on 17th June 2014

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) conducts a Biannual Public Attitudes Tracker survey on a nationwide basis. Whilst this does not ask specific questions on the authenticity of food, authenticity related issues are raised by some consumers in spontaneous responses and when prompted (http://multimedia.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/science-research/biannual-attitudes-tracker-nov-2013.pdf). In July 2013 consumers reported mislabelling as a concern leading them to have a lack of trust in the supply chain[1]. Similar evidence has been reported by other consumer attitude research by non-Government organisations such as Which?[2], IGD[3], Mintel[4] and the Ipsos Mori survey for The Grocer[5].

Consumers have a right to expect that the food they buy is what it says it is. Government has taken significant steps to ensure the continued authenticity of our food including increasing support to Local Authorities for delivery of the national coordinated sampling programme from £1.6m to £2.2m in 2013/14. Continued investment in the Government's food authenticity research programme ensures that the UK is at the cutting edge of science in developing novel technologies to detect ever more sophisticated food fraud and protect UK consumers.

In June 2013 the Secretaries of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and for Health asked Professor Elliot to conduct a review into the Integrity and Assurance of Food Supply Networks. The interim report was published on 12 December 2013 and the Professor's final report will be published shortly.


[1]http://food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/horsemeat-attitudesb.pdf

[2]http://www.which.co.uk/news/2013/03/horsemeat-scandal-dents-trust-in-food-industry-313016/

[3]http://shoppervista.igd.com/Hub.aspx?id=4&tid=4

[4]http://store.mintel.com/consumer-trust-in-food-uk-june-2013?cookie_test=true#

[5]http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/topics/food-safety/horse-meat/horsegate-scandal-hasnt-changed-shopping-habits-of-majority/353432.article

Reticulating Splines