Very Few Consumers Think Their Food is Safe

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report on Thursday revealed that only two in 10 consumers have complete confidence that their food is safe to eat.

Zebra Technologies, a global leader in providing solutions and services to enterprises, in the study 'Food Safety Supply Chain Vision' included approximately 4,957 consumers and 462 food and beverage industry decision-makers in the manufacturing, transportation & logistics, retail and wholesale distribution markets in North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.

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The report highlights the views of consumers as well as the food and beverage industry decision-makers worldwide from distribution and warehouses to grocery stores and restaurants around safety, traceability, and transparency.

Surveyed consumers reported their top food safety concerns to include restaurant kitchen and wait staff hygiene, foodborne outbreaks, illness from contaminated food, and food and beverage recalls.

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"Findings from our study show that while the industry is taking measures to ensure a more transparent supply chain, more work needs to be done in order to increase consumer confidence and improve food traceability," Deep Agarwal, Regional Sales Director of India, Zebra Technologies, said in a statement.

According to the report, on average less than 40 percent of the food and beverage industry decision-makers place complete trust in the industry to ensure food and beverage safety.

Consumers can be quite unforgiving if they experience a food incident as approximately six in 10 reportedly would never eat at a restaurant again if they contracted a foodborne illness or food poisoning, the study said.

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Slightly more than 80 percent of surveyed consumers said companies have an important role to play in implementing food safety solutions and ethical responsibility to ensure the safe handling of their food.

Most consumers (70 percent) said it is important to know how their food and ingredients are manufactured, prepared, and handled, while 69 percent agreed knowing how their food is sourced is also important.

The findings also showed that almost seven in 10 decision-makers say the industry is prepared to manage food traceability and transparency, but only 35 percent of consumers agree.

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Furthermore, only 13 percent of consumers felt the industry was extremely prepared today to manage food traceability and be transparent about how food travels through the supply chain, whereas 27 percent of decision-makers reported feeling this way. (IANS)