071242 Survey Suggests Fraying Consumer Confidence In Meat Safety

An exclusive survey conducted by Meatingplace and its sister publication POULTRY revealed consumers are beginning to question the safety of the U.S. meat supply.

Although the majority of consumers remain confident in the overall safety of the U.S. meat supply, 34 percent said they are less confident than they were five years ago.

One of primary drivers: the media's relentless coverage of recalls had triggered "a general distrust of food safety in America," said Irving Rein, a communications studies professor at Northwestern University.

Only 35 percent of consumers surveyed agree that the U.S. government is doing everything it can to ensure meat product safety.

Consumers were conflicted in assessing processors' efforts. Nearly 40 percent of them strongly or somewhat agree that meat processors are doing everything possible to safeguard their products. But, roughly the same number indicated that the industry is not doing enough.

What's more, 36 percent of consumers said they worry about serving fresh ground beef or hamburgers to their families due to concerns about E. coli contamination.

The majority, however, indicated that such concern has yet to impact purchase habits or even intent.

The publications conducted a survey in November of about 600 primary food purchasers nationwide via Zoomerang.com to gauge consumer knowledge, actions and attitudes on a variety of food safety issues.

"Our intent in fielding this survey was to gauge how the increased and sometimes contradictory media coverage is affecting consumers' perceptions and attitudes about the industry," said Bill McDowell, vice president of editorial for the magazines. "What we found was that consumers are conflicted and in many cases don't know what to make of it all. The good news for processors is that they're still buying and eating meat. But there is certainly a cautionary message in the numbers. The drumbeat of negative publicity might be taking a toll."

RETURN TO HOME PAGE

E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com