Consumer concerns about food imported into the UK, especially meat, have increased in the past two years according to the latest “Food and You” survey, commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
The survey, which is carried out every two years, found that 65% of those questioned have concerns about imported food compared with a 42% concern factor for food produced in the UK.
The gap was even larger between domestically-produced and imported meat. While 66% of respondents said they had concerns about imported meat, the concern rating for meat produced in the UK was 38%.
In each case, people were responding to a survey question which was designed to assess consumers’ feelings concerning food poisoning risks and their attitudes generally towards food safety and production.
In all cases, more people voiced concerns about these issues in response to the 2014 survey than in either 2012 or 2010.
Based on 3,453 interviews, carried out with a representative sample of adults aged 16 and over across the UK, the survey also revealed an increase in awareness of the FSA’s food hygiene rating schemes, which currently command a 76% of recognition factor, up from 55% in previous years.