10 August 2007, 17:47 PM
  • UK consumers are increasingly turned off by food scares and product recalls - with almost 70% of shoppers saying they are hardly aware of national product alerts and fewer than 20% trusting the manufacturer or retailer to give them accurate information, a new nationwide survey reveals.

Ironically, as the EU and UK regulatory and advisory authorities report soaring numbers of recall and safety reports in the last year, their effectiveness in terms of consumer safety seems to be diminishing as apathy sets in.
The survey, conducted by European risk management and PR expert, Razor, reveals for the first time solid statistical evidence that partially undermines the approach adopted by manufacturers and Government advisory bodies who feel it is both their legal and moral responsibility to `tell it all and tell it fast’ whenever a product emerges as a threat to human safety - especially if it is a food or drink and however theoretical the risk.
The research revealed that the most trusted source of product safety advice and information are the regulatory bodies or independent authorities (38%), like the Food Standards Agency, local councils and the Consumer Council. Only 17% said they would trust a manufacturer’s advice - 15% would turn to the media for their information - and a mere 13% said they would trust the retailer. On food safety alerts specifically, over a fifth, 21%, feel less confident about food safety now than they did a year ago and 16% `don’t care about such alerts and don’t take any notice of them’.
Commenting on the findings, Chris Woodcock, managing director of Razor, explains, “More than 1,300 food safety incidents were investigated by the UK Food Standards Agency last year, the first time there was an industry-wide, reliable tally. Yet the survey shows only the minority of these, that progress into full-blown recalls, are getting the message across.
“Our survey shows that the sheer volume of recalls and warnings is increasingly falling on deaf ears. Moreover, and perhaps even more worryingly, the trend for those who do take any notice of the advice is to trust what the media tells them more often than the retailers.”