Public eyeing food safety, researcher says

March 11, 2005
Guelph Mercury
A4
Vik Kirsch

Dr. Susan Jones, a food researcher with the Ipsos-Reid marketing research company and a graduate of the University of Guelph's Ontario Veterinary College, was cited as telling a high technology networking group in Guelph yesterday that Canadian consumers want to eat better, but are increasingly frustrated with the confusing array of products on supermarket shelves, adding, "Confusion reigns in the marketplace,"

Jones was further cited as saying the public eye is on food product content and risk, and those issues include preservatives, genetically modified foods, trans-fatty acids and mad cow disease, adding, "It's now part of the public consciousness."

She said 55 per cent of people surveyed worry about food safety. Research also suggests that half of consumers have said they've boycotted a specific food over a safety concern, she added. Of these, 43 per cent said they never went back to that product.

Jones notes that food safety has been an issue for some consumers since the early 1990s, when environmentalists began speaking out about pesticides and additives.

The mad-cow crisis, E.coli bacteria outbreaks in food, and the 2000 Walkerton tragedy, in which the town's water supply was tainted, have added to those fear. Today, she said, consumers want safe, quality products that are nutritious and not too expensive.