Research Shows How Food System Can Better Communicate To Consumers
The report Messages Matter from the Center for Food Integrity finds that U.S. consumers adopted a more positive attitude about the food system after reviewing educational literature about nutrition, food safety, the treatment of farm animals and the use of technology in food production.
In this survey of more than 2,000 food shoppers, the Center for Food Integrity sought to determine which messages and programs were the most successful in changing consumer attitudes. Overall, this report found that consumers were most likely to agree that:
- Meat is full of nutrients after seeing details on nutrient content.
- Raising animals indoors is beneficial after seeing information on how housing systems keep animal healthier and protect them from weather and predators.
- U.S. farm animal are treated humanely after learning about training and certification programs, and reviewing research on decreases in animal disease and mortality.
- Government agencies are doing a good job ensuring food saftey after seeing information on the reduction in food-borne illnesses due to FDA and USDA oversight.
- FDA strictly regulates the use of antibiotics in farm animals after receiving details on the FDA’s antibiotic approval program.
Researchers also concluded that shoppers’ attitudes showed significant improvement toward a range of issues when it was communicated that food producers share the same values as consumers. In fact, demonstrating shared values between consumers and producers can be three to five times more effective in building consumer trust in today’s food systems, according to researchers.