Specific Food Product Safety Concerns The Survey example essay topic

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2004 ISSUES UPDATE 45 I S S U E SUPDATE 2 0 0 4 by Rick McCarty Executive Director, Issues Management - NCBASummaryThe checkoff-funded beef safety tracking survey conducted in November 2004 found that fresh beef steaks / roasts remained the protein with the highest consumer confidence in safety. The survey asks consumers to give grades to foods for being safe to eat and 76 percent of survey respondents gave steak / roast an Aor B for safety. Background The beef safety tracking surveys are quarterly telephone surveys of a national, random sample of U.S. adults. Vegetarians do not answer the survey.

The margin of error for survey data is plus / minus 3.2 percent. General food safety The percentage of Americans giving U.S. food in general anA or B for safety has remained relatively stable with some small fluctuations in the past year. However, this survey found the percentage of A / B grades (70%) significantly lower than in November 2003 (74%) and at the lowest score since November 2002 (69%). The November 2004 score is much lower than the 77 percent measured during the last survey in May 2004. Safety of specific fresh foods The safety ratings for specific fresh foods remained stable during the past year with no significant differences in the ratings in November 2004. Fresh fruits and vegetables are consistently at the top of the list when it comes to safety grades given to specific fresh foods one might buy in a grocery store.

Fresh beef steaks and roasts receive the highest meat product safety grade (76%). Tied for second place with 70 percent of consumers grading A or B were fresh pork chops and microwaveable foods. Foods with lower consumer safety grades were fresh ground beef (64%), fresh chicken (63%), fresh fish (60%), fresh ground pork (56%) and pre-prepared foods from the deli (52%). Specific concerns regarding food safety The safety tracking survey asks consumers to rate their level of concern about specific safety issues on a 5-point scale, with one being not concerned and five being extremely concerned.

The percentage of "top two" scores (4-5 ratings on the scale) indicate the issues of greatest concern. Safety issues tend not to be top of mind with consumers, evidenced by the fact that safety issues barely register when consumers state reasons for eating less beef. However, when asked to think about specific safety concerns, bacteria (62%) and pesticides (62%) top the list. Consumer concerns about chemical additives (58%) and mad cow disease (57%) make up second tier of safety concerns. Concerns about mad cow disease did not increase significantly as a result of the first U.S. case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in December 2003, and in fact, currently are significantly lower than the 61 percent concern level measured in November 2003. Other issues rated as lower concerns include hormones (50%), genetically modified foods (46%), antibiotics (45%) and irradiated foods (40%).

The only issue that has shown a significant increase in level of concern in the past year is chemical additives which increased from 50 percent in November 2003 to the current 58 percent. Specific food product safety concerns The survey asks respondents to choose, from a list of six foods, the one food they are most concerned about in terms of being safe to eat. Typically, only about 15 percent of consumers choose beef as their food of highest concern. However, driven by the intense media coverage surrounding the first U.S. BSEcase, the percentage choosing beef as their highest safety concern jumped in the first half of 2004.

That concern moderated in the second half of the calendar year. While the checkoff-funded BSE tracking research showed that consumer confidence did not drop as a result of the BSEcase, the safety track surveys indicate that consumers were more concerned about beef than usual. Table 1 shows research results from the past five quarters regarding foods of highest safety concern to consumers. Consumers rate beef steaks and roasts tops among proteins for safety RESEARCH CH BRIEFS NOVEMBER - 46 ISSUES UPDATE DECEMBER 2004 I S S U E SUPDATE 2 0 0 4 Key Points As indicated by grades given for safety, consumer confidence in beef steaks and roasts (76%) is higher than the confidence in U.S. food in general (70%).

In addition, beef steaks and roasts are in third place, behind only fruits and vegetables, in consumer confidence rankings of fresh food safety. o Confidence in ground beef is significantly lower (64%) but relatively steady and hit highs for the year of 69 percent in May and 67 percent in September, two months that bookend the seasonal grilling period. It may be significant that. coli O 157: H 7 recalls of ground beef were not a big news item in the summer of 2004. o Consumer concerns about beef safety have declined to year-ago levels since being heightened by extensive media coverage surrounding BSE in the first half of the year. RESEARCH BRIEFS.