Food Labeling Poll – 2008
Consumer Reports examined the public’s perception of and confidence in the U.S. food system. The specific issues addressed included consumer attitudes toward country-of-origin-labeling and “naturally raised” meat, as well as genetically engineered and cloned animals.
Selected Survey Questions:
Which of the following types of food would you buy if they were available?
- Meat or milk products from genetically engineered animals (29%)
- Milk or milk products from cloned animals or their offspring (26%)
- None of these (62%)
- Don’t know (2%)
Would you pay more for the following types of foods:
- Milk/milk products produced without artificial growth hormones (57%)
- Meat products labeled as tested for mad cow disease (49%)
- Milk from organic cows that were confined indoors and did not graze outdoors (19%)
- None of these (26%)
- Don’t know (1%)
Do you think the “naturally raised label” on a meat product should mean:
- It came from an animal whose diet was free of chemicals, drugs and animal byproducts (86%)
- It came from an animal that was raised in a natural environment (85%)
- It did not come from a cloned or genetically engineered animal (78%)
- It came from an animal that had access to the outdoors (77%)
- It came from an animal that was treated humanely (76%)
- No salt water was added to the cut of meat (69%)
- It came from an animal that was not confined (68%)
- None of these (2%)
- I don’t know (1%)
Respondents indicated they were “very concerned” with the following issues:
- Harmful bacteria or chemicals in food (62%)
- Safety of imported foods (58%)
- Safety of meat treated with carbon monoxide to preserve red color (45%)
- Dairy cows given synthetic growth hormones (43%)
- Eating meat or milk products from cloned or genetically engineered animals (39%)
- Ocean pollution caused by fish farms advertised as organic (34%)
- Degradation of plastics used to make or line food and beverage containers (31%)
- Genetic engineering of food crops or animals to produce drugs, such as insulin (22%)
- Health problems associated with eating fish caught in the wild (22%)
Respondents “strongly” or “somewhat” agreed with the following food production and safety statements:
- Meat companies should be allowed to test and label meat products as “tested for mad cow disease” (96%)
- Processed or packaged foods should be labeled by country of origin (95%)
- Country of origin labeling for products should always be available at point of purchase (95%)
- Food products made from genetically engineered animals should be labeled as such (95%)
- Specialty meat and fish stores should label their products by county of origin. (94%)
- Meat and dairy products from cloned animals should be labeled as such (94%)
- Meat treated with carbon monoxide should be labeled as such (93%)
- Fish labeled organic should be produced from 100% organic feed like all other organic animal foods (93%)
- Dairies that produce milk and milk products without artificial growth hormones should be allowed to label their products as being free of these hormones (93%)
- Meat that contains any irradiated components should be labeled as such (92%)
- Organic fish farms should be required to recover all waste so it can’t pollute the environment (90%)
- Cloning of food animals should be prohibited (69%)
Additional findings:
- 73% of respondents consider the nation’s food supply to be safe, while 26% consider it to be unsafe and 1% don’t know.
- Over the past several years, 20% say their confidence in the nation’s food supply has increased, while 32% believe it has stayed the same and 48% think that it has decreased.
- Slightly more than half (54%) believe the government is doing all it can to ensure the safety of the American food supply; 45% disagree and 1% don’t know.