Truth Or Scare

General article about interest in sources and safety of the U.S. food supply, including discussion of organic and natural foods, food safety, health motivators, labeling, and other issues.

More Americans are making health, nutrition and food safety a priority, purchasing $13.5 billion of natural and organic food in 2002, which is 8.95 more than the previous year.

A poll conducted for American Demographics in January, 2004 by Harris Interactive, of 2289 respondents, 25% were either “extremely concerned” or “very concerned” about the safety of meat and produce. 39% believe that organic or natural foods are healthier and 33% believe they are safer.

According to Professor Sap of Iowa State University, Baby Boomers are driving the demand for organic foods because they are health-conscious and have the ability to pay higher prices.

About two-thirds of all consumers who switched to organic foods are motivated primarily by health benefits.

The Harris poll found that 39% of all Americans say they “always” or “often” inspect food labels to find out how the product was produced. Older people tend to inspect labels more often than younger ones, 50% of men ages 45-54, 55% of women, age 55+.

A January 16th, Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive poll found that 21% of Americans plan to reduce beef consumption out of fear of mad cow disease. 78% stated they would eat less beef, while 16% said they would stop beating beef entirely.

At the end of 2003, 96% of Americans were highly aware of and concerned about mad cow disease. By mid January, 90% were confident that U.S. beef was safe, which was an increase of 2% from this same poll taken in September.