Food safety and the New Zealand public 2007 survey

5 Food Safety Concerns in New Zealand

In line with the slight decline in declared interest in food safety issues, concern about food safety issues also fell marginally in the latest survey. 43% of New Zealanders rated their concern about food safety issues as either ‘1’or ‘2’ on a 5 point scale where 1 meant very concerned (down 3%), while 26% chose either a ‘4’or a ‘5’ (unchanged).

CONCERN ABOUT FOOD SAFETY ISSUES IN NEW ZEALAND Using a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 means you are very concerned and 5 you are not concerned at all, how concerned are you about food safety issues in New Zealand?

	August 2003 %	May 2005 %	July 2007 %
1 Very concerned	24	22	23
2	20	24	20
TOTAL CONCERNED 1 + 2	44	46	43
3	32	27	30
4	15	15	16
5 Not concerned at all	9	11	10
TOTAL NOT CONCERNED 4 + 5	24	26	26
Unsure	-	1	1

In terms of types of food, the big food safety issues for New Zealanders continued to be chicken (85% concerned, up 2%), shellfish (77%, down 1%) and food displayed in warming ovens (76%, unchanged). There were reasonably substantial declines in the number who said that they were concerned about food from takeaways (62%, down 6%), eggs (down 4% to 29%) and cheese (down 4% to 21%). Concern about specific food types did not rise by more than 2% for any of the items tested. 71% of respondents who said that they had to watch what they ate for health reasons said that they had concerns about the safety of takeaways. While this was the largest difference, this group was generally more concerned than other respondents about each of the types of food mentioned, with 31% saying that they were concerned about the safety of fresh fruit (compared with 23% of all respondents) and 25% declaring a concern about canned food (18% for all respondents).

CONCERNS ABOUT THE SAFETY OF SPECIFIC FOODS Do you have concerns about the safety of any of these types of food?
	‘YES’
	August 2003 %	May 2005 %	July 2007 %
Chicken	85	83	85
Shellfish	82	78	77
Food displayed in warming ovens such as pies	81	76	76
Deli or cooked meat	71	68	70
Raw meat	70	71	69
Raw fish	69	69	68
Takeaways	68	68	62
Bought salads	63	57	59
Pre-prepared chilled meals	59	56	54
Bakery food like doughnuts or custard squares	50	45	44
Fresh milk	33	35	32
Eggs	34	33	29
Frozen food	31	25	24
Fresh vegetables	27	25	23
Fresh fruit	28	24	23
Cheese	27	25	21
Canned food	19	19	18

In terms of level of concern about specified places for buying food, there were again no substantial increases for any of the places we tested. The largest movement was for service stations, where the proportion saying that they were concerned (‘1’ or ’2’ on a 5 point scale where 1 meant very concerned) fell 4% to 39%, and for supermarkets, where the equivalent proportion fell 4% to 36%. The largest perceived risks continued to be buffets/ smorgasbords and mobile food outlets (both 58% concerned). For the 2007 study, we tested levels of concern with food safety standards at farmers markets for the first time. This emerged at the bottom of our list, with only 30% rating their concern as either ‘1’or ‘2’out of 5. 46% of those who said that they regularly ate takeaways were concerned about food safety at franchised fast food outlets, while 64% of those group were concerned about mobile food outlets.

CONCERN ABOUT FOOD SAFETY STANDARDS AT SPECIFIC PLACES – COMPARISON TABLE Using a scale of 1-5 where 1 means you are very concerned and 5 you are not concerned at all, how concerned are you about the food safety standards at the following places?
	TOTAL CONCERNED 1 + 2
	August 2003 %	May 2005 %	July 2007 %
Buffets and smorgasbords*	58	58	58
Mobile food outlets	61	57	58
Franchised fast food outlets	54	51	52
Food halls	53	53	51
Asian and other ethnic restaurants**	53	53	50
Dairies	49	47	44
Food processors and manufacturers***	48	45	44
BBQs	47	41	44
Restaurants generally	42	42	41
Pubs and cafes	47	42	41
Transportation of food	45	41	40
Service stations	42	43	39
Farm gate sales/ roadside stalls****	38	38	38
Supermarkets	42	40	36
At home	41	38	35
Farmers’ markets*****	-	-	30
2003 place was ‘Buffets’ 2003 place was ‘Asian restaurants’ 2003 place was ‘Food processing plants’ 2003 place was ‘Farms’ *** Question not asked in 2003 or 2005

CONCERN ABOUT FOOD SAFETY STANDARDS AT SPECIFIC PLACES - 2007 Using a scale of 1-5 where 1 means you are very concerned and 5 you are not concerned at all, how concerned are you about the food safety standards at the following places?
	1 Very concerned	2 %	TOTAL 1 + 2 %	3 %	4 %	5 Not concerned at all	TOTAL 4 + 5 %	Unsure
Buffets and smorgasbords	32	26	58	22	12	5	17	3
Mobile food outlets	29	29	58	22	9	5	14	6
Franchised fast food outlets	26	26	52	24	15	7	22	2
Food halls	28	23	51	23	13	6	19	7
Asian and other ethnic restaurants	28	22	50	25	13	7	20	5
Dairies	21	23	44	32	15	8	23	1
Food processors and manufactures	24	20	44	23	21	9	30	3
BBQs	21	23	44	27	16	11	27	2
Restaurants generally	22	19	41	27	23	8	31	1
Pubs and cafes	20	21	41	32	18	7	25	2
Transportation of food	21	19	40	28	19	9	28	4
Service stations	18	21	39	32	16	8	24	5
Farm gate sales/roadside stalls	15	23	38	25	18	15	33	4
Supermarkets	20	16	36	23	27	14	41	-
At home	12	18	30	28	19	14	33	9
Farmers Markets	12	18	30	28	19	14	33	9

Although levels of concern about specific types of food and specific places was more likely to fall than rise, the 2007 results do show increases in concern about several food safety issues. 67% rated their level of concern about antibiotics in meat as either ‘1’or ‘2’out of 5 (5 point scale where 1 meant very concerned), up 5% since 2005. Smaller increases were recorded for food additives (up 3% to 61%) and conditions for farm animals (up 3%). On the other hand, declared concern about listeria dropped 5% to 59%. For the 2007 research we evaluated two food safety issues that had not been included in previous years. 63% of respondents rated their level of concern for campylobacter as either ‘1’or ‘2’out of 5, putting it third on the list although still well behind salmonella. 54% said that they were concerned about food from cloned animals, well ahead of irradiated food (41%).

CONCERN ABOUT FOOD RELATED ISSUES – COMPARISON TABLE Using a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 means you are very concerned and 5 you are not concerned at all, how concerned are you about the following? If you don’t know enough about the following please say so.
	TOTAL CONCERNED 1 + 2
	August 2003 %	May 2005 %	July 2007 %
Salmonella	79	80	77
Antibiotics in meat	62	62	67
Campylobacter*	-	-	63
The use of pesticides to grow food	61	63	62
The use of additives such as colours and preservatives	57	58	61
Listeria	62	64	59
Genetically modified foods	54	57	56
Conditions in which farm animals are raised	52	53	56
Food from cloned animals*	-	-	54
Food allergies	45	50	47
Irradiated food	39	43	41
* Not asked in 2003 and 2005

CONCERN ABOUT FOOD RELATED ISSUES – 2007

Using a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 means you are very concerned and 5 you are not concerned at all, how concerned are you about the following? If you don’t know enough about the following please say so.

	1 Very concerned %	2 %	TOTAL 1 + 2 %	3 %	4 %	5 Not concerned at all	TOTAL 4 + 5 %	Unsure %	Don’t know enough %
Salmonella	58	19	77	11	3	3	6	2	4
Antibiotics in meat	47	20	67	12	5	3	10	3	8
Campylobacter	46	17	63	7	3	3	6	7	17
Use of pesticides to grow food	39	23	62	20	8	5	13	1	4
Use of additives such as colours and preservatives	34	27	61	20	10	7	17	1	1
Listeria	44	15	59	10	4	5	9	6	16
Genetically modified foods	39	17	56	15	11	11	22	2	5
Food from clones animals	42	12	54	10	8	13	21	4	11
Food allergies	27	20	47	21	12	14	26	2	4
Irradiated foods	27	14	41	15	9	8	17	7	20

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New Zealand Food Safety Authority
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NEW ZEALAND

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Contact NZFSA about this page

Food safety and the New Zealand public 2007 survey

5 Food Safety Concerns in New Zealand

CONCERNS ABOUT THE SAFETY OF SPECIFIC FOODS

CONCERN ABOUT FOOD SAFETY STANDARDS AT SPECIFIC PLACES - 2007