Food Standards Agency publishes Consumer Attitudes to Food survey 2003 - South East findings

Tuesday 24 February 2004

Consumers in the South East are more likely to claim to have changed their diet in the past year to eat more healthily

Ref: 2004/0468

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) today publishes the fourth annual English regions survey of consumer attitudes to food.

The annual survey provides detailed information of consumer's knowledge, behaviour and awareness of food issues and shows that compared to other English regions, consumers in the South East are:

More likely to claim to have changed their diet in the past year to eat more healthily (40%)
Least likely, of all English regions, to claim to regularly eat convenience foods (37%) and ready-made meals (24%)
More likely to claim to eat more vegetables/salad (39%) and fruit (34%) and more likely to claim to eat less of the foods that contain salt (25%)
More likely to express concern about the amount of fat (58%) and salt (56%) in food
More likely to refer to food labelling information (93%) and most likely to find food labels 'very easy' to understand (16%)

The UK 2003 survey highlights a number of key trends that have emerged since 2000, these include:

A significant decline in consumer concern over BSE ( 42% in 2003 from 61% in 2000 - drop of 19%)
A decline in consumer concern about the safety of meat - particularly raw meat (63% in 2003 from 70% in 2000) and raw beef ( 38% in 2003 from 53% in 2000)
A year-on-year increase in the number of consumers who are aware that we should eat 5 portions of a variety of fruit and veg each day (59% in 2003 compared to 43% in 2000)
One-third of consumers (37%) felt that they had changed their eating habits over the last year and were now eating more healthily, with only 6% believing that their diet was currently less healthy than a year ago.

Notes for editors

Summary of further findings from the UK wide Consumer Attitudes to Food Survey 2003:

Food labelling

78% of consumers claim to check food labels, 31% always, 26% usually and 21%37; occasionally.
60% of consumers found information on food labelling easy to understand. However one in five consumers found some food labels 'fairly difficult' to understand, and one in twenty found them 'very difficult'.
Two-fifths of consumers are concerned about the accuracy of food labelling compared to around a third in previous years.
Just over half (52%) of UK consumers are concerned about the accuracy of health claims, although the majority of concerned consumers (58%) were 'fairly' rather than 'very concerned'.

Food safety

Year-on-year decrease in the number of consumers that feel that food safety is 'a lot' worse (6% in 2000, 5% in 2001, 4% in 2002, 4% in 2003).
Level of concern about GM foods remains similar to the past two years (38 % of consumers expressed concern in 2003, compared to 43% in 2000).
Significant increase in the number of consumers who expressed concern over ready made meals, up to 17% in 2003 from 13% in 2002.
Half of the consumers interviewed were concerned about the amount of fat (53%), salt (50%) and sugar (47%) in food, with these concerns affecting claimed eating habits.

Shopping and eating habits

Around half of consumers shop about once a week and as in previous years most food shopping is done at supermarkets, with 95% of consumers opting for these over local shops and other sources.
Just over six out of ten respondents claimed to enjoy cooking but only two-fifths cook meals from raw or fresh ingredients once a day.
Half of those interviewed claimed to sit down once a day for their main meal with all other household members and eating with people who are not household members is fairly infrequent.

Healthy eating and nutrition

Year-on-year significant increase in the number of consumers aware that we should eat 5 portions of a variety of fruit and veg a day - up to 59% in 2003, from 43% in 2000.
However, there has been little change in the number of consumers claiming to have eaten the daily recommended amount of fruit and veg yesterday (28%), which remains at almost the same level as 2000 (26%).
One-third of consumers (37%) felt that they had changed their eating habits over the last year and were now eating more healthily. 92% of consumers also claimed to regularly/occasionally eat fresh vegetables/fruit/salad and almost two-thirds claimed to regularly/occasionally eat fish.
An increase in number of consumers stating that one should eat less salt in food, up to 54% in 2003 compared with 51% in 2002.
Significant decrease in the number of consumers claiming to regularly or occasionally eat ready-made-meals, 55% in 2003 down from 59% in 2002. Also a significant decrease in the number of consumers that regularly/occasionally eat convenience foods, 67% in 2003 down from 72% in 2002.

Foodborne disease

Between a third and a half of all consumers surveyed claimed to change their eating habits in 2003 as a result of increased concern of hygiene in catering establishments - with 70% no longer buying food from an outlet where they had concerns about hygiene.
A year-on-year increase in consumer concern about hygiene in mobile food outlets (from 26% in 2002 up to 30% in 2003).

Food Standards Agency

Confidence in the Agency has increased from 50% in 2000 to 60% in 2003.
Awareness of the FSA has increased from 58% in 2000 to 75% in 2003.
87% of consumers who get information from the FSA rated the Agency as providing very/fairly reliable information.
54% of consumers rated the Agency as an organisation they could trust, compared with 44% in 2001.
47% of consumers rated the Agency as putting the consumer first - up from 41% in 2000.

Key differences across groups

Women are more likely to be aware of food issues and more concerned about food safety.
People between the ages of 16-25 and over 66 tend to be less knowledgeable and less concerned about food issues.

The UK survey was published in January 2003 and is available from the links below.

This is the fourth year that the Agency's Consumer Attitudes to Food Survey has been running. The FSA will be publishing a new strategic plan for 2005-2010 later this year and the questions in future surveys will be revised to reflect that plan. However, boxline measures on perceptions of the FSA will remain unchanged.

Research for the Consumer Attitudes to Food survey 2003 was carried out between 1 September and 14 October 2003 by TNS for the Food Standards Agency. A total of 3,121 consumers were interviewed face-to-face in their homes using CAPI technology.

For English regions, 1000 interviews were conducted in England. For analysis purposes, England was broken down into 5 regions:

North West, North East, Midlands, South West and South East.

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Food Standards Agency publishes Consumer Attitudes to Food survey 2003 - South East findings

Consumers in the South East are more likely to claim to have changed their diet in the past year to eat more healthily

Notes for editors

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