Few Americans Give High Marks To Food Safety Efforts

This Ipsos/McClatchy survey found that 54% of U.S. adults rate the level of food safety in the United States as an “A” or “B,” although 28% feel that food safety has gotten worse in the six months preceding the survey.

Asked to give the U.S. food safety system a letter grade based upon the stand U.S. educational grading system, 11% gave food safety an “A,” 43% gave it a “B,” 34% gave it a “C,” 9% gave it a “D,” and 3% gave it an “F.”

Compared with six months ago, 57% feel that food safety is the same, 28% feel that it has gotten worse, and 15% feel that it has gotten better.

Americans feel that responsibility for food safety lies with primarily with food processing companies (81%), the U.S. government food safety inspectors (79%), food packaging companies (73%), farmers and ranchers (63%), and consumers (30%).

Most Americans believe that the food safety problems lie outside the U.S. Eight in ten U.S. adults (79%) feel that food safety concerns are related to imported foods, while 21% feel that these concerns are more often related to domestically produced food.

Foods eliciting the most safety concerns from U.S. adult consumers include fish and seafood (25%), beef (23%), vegetables (20%), and chicken (18%). The foods of least concern to consumers are fruits (5%), pork (5%), milk (4%), and cheese (1%).