Consumer Distrust

Consumer Distrust

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
I get about 10 emails a day from the USDA's food safety and inspection service. They warn of food recalls, misbranding, contamination, undeclared allergens, you name it. And I am in the professional agribusiness. You have to wonder what regular consumers are thinking about food these days. News about food recalls, food poisoning outbreaks scare stories about foods and social media. One expert says those plus a general lack of knowledge about food production have produced among many consumers... "a huge amount of skepticism about the food industry itself." Andy Harig with the Food Marketing Institute says consumer surveys over the last few years show more food shoppers voicing more distrust of what they often call Big Food.

"Every time I speak at a conference there's always a group of people who come up to me afterwards and say 'you're big food'. It's not meant as a compliment. It's meant as sort of a 'You're like big tobacco you know, that's kind of how we view you.'

He says this distrust could be reduced by food companies and food stores somehow giving to consumers what surveys indicate they want. They want to understand where their food comes from. 'They want to feel good about it.' But right now, Harig says many shoppers are experiencing instead...' loss of trust information overload, people don't know where to turn'... or who to believe and these are not Harry's personal opinions. all this based on extensive surveys and interviews with consumers.

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