Tag: consumers
UK: 95% of consumers buy private brands but concerns in food quality and safety point to need for greater transparency
Packaging Today: Trace One today announced the results of its “Global Consumer Food Safety and Quality” research. The survey of over 3,000 shoppers across nine countries found that despite buying private food brands often, consumers are concerned about the safety and quality of the foods they eat.
Only 12 percent of the consumers surveyed said that they wholeheartedly trust the safety of the private and National food brands they consume and only 10 percent wholeheartedly trust the quality. In fact, more than a quarter (27 percent) of consumers do not even trust the information on food product labels.
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US: ProducePro campaign launched to help consumers safely prepare and enjoy fresh produce
Kathy Means, PMA: Consumers are the last line of defense in preventing foodborne illness.That’s why PMA supports the Partnership for Food Safety Education, which educates consumers through science-based, consumer-tested messaging.
The Partnership, with support from the Food Marketing Institute Foundation and PMA, introduced ProducePro, a new campaign to help consumers safely prepare and enjoy fresh produce with simple home safety practices.
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CH: Food safety top concern in China
Shanghai Daily: An annual China Youth Daily survey in March found that food safety was the public’s top concern. In response to a list of “quality of life” issues including housing and the environment, 77.3 percent of respondents said food safety mattered most to them. The new law should rebuild confidence in the domestic food industry.
Those found to have added substances unfit for human consumption to food could be jailed for up to 15 days, and producers may face fines of up to 30 times the value of their products.
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CH: Food safety fears spark growing taste for imported fruit among China’s middle class
South China Morning Post: Longstanding fears over food safety standards on the mainland –
including frequent reports of residue left on domestic fruit after the excessive use of pesticides and swelling and ripening agents – have led to a craze among China’s growing middle class for imported prime fruits in recent years.
Avocados shipped in from Mexico were now the fastest increasing item, said Mabel Zhuang, China consultant of the global fresh produce trade organisation, Produce Marketing Association.
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Grocery shoppers vote for food safety, by Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett: Australia’s grocery buyers have voted food safety as their top factor likely to influence which supermarket retailer they shop at, but only by a very narrow margin. A 2014 survey by Roy Morgan Research of nearly 16,000 shoppers put food safety just ahead of proximity, value, trading hours, even price.
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AU: Australian consumers’ food safety report card released
Food Safety Information Council: To celebrate World Health Day 2015, which has the theme of food safety, the Food Safety Information Council has released a report card assessing Australian consumers’ knowledge of food safety.
Council Chair, Professor Michael Eyles, said that, while it is good news that a recent Australian National University study found food poisoning cases in Australia have decreased from an estimated 4.3 million cases in 2000 to 4.1 million in 2010, this is still an alarmingly high number.
‘Food poisoning can be serious and results in 31,920 hospitalisations, 86 deaths and 1 million visits to doctors on average each year.
Click here to read the full story at the Food Safety Information Council
Tag: consumers
“The foods most likely to give you food poisoning” – Fruit and Vegetables aren’t off the hook
In the lead up to the Food Safety Information Council, Australian Food Safety Week themed, Shopping Food Safety, it was reported on www.news.com.au [7/11/13] that food borne illness may not be result of your chicken lunch but the salad…
Lorraine Belanger, spokeswoman for Food Standards Australia New Zealand, said a lot of foodborne illness happens in the home. And under the right circumstances anything can give you food poisoning.
“People think of chicken as the number one suspect but actually things like salads and cut fruit, if handled in wrong way or exposed to wrong things, can cause major foodborne outbreaks.” Many foodborne illnesses take days or weeks to manifest.
“When people get sick they think ‘Oh it was that thing I ate at lunch’ but it could be something they ate a week ago,” Ms Belanger said.
Juliana Madden, executive officer at the Food Safety Information Council, says vegetarians and vegans often think they’re more protected from food poisoning but this is not the case. “Some of the largest food safety issues that have popped up in the last few years have been things like baby spinach and tomatoes,” Ms Madden said.
The article highlighted to consumers seven foods that pose food poisoning risks:
rice
raw vegetables
fruit
sprouts
chicken, duck and turkey
eggs
deli meats
To view the full article, click here.
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Australian Food Safety Week,11 – 17th November 2013
It is the second week of November and the Food Safety Information Council (FSIC) is holding its annual Australian Food Safety Week!
The Food Safety Information Council provides information to consumers, aiming to reduce the incidence of food poisoning, and to protect people from what is often a nasty experience involving diarrhoea, vomiting, cramps and fever.
This years theme is Shopping Food Safety focusing on ‘Clean, Choose, Chill and Separate‘ when selecting food and transporting it home safely. A national Newspoll Survey, commissioned by the Food Safety Information Council for Australian Food Safety Week, shows that too few Australian consumers are taking notice of vital food safety advice on food labels and are taking risks by not using insulated bags or coolers to transport refrigerated food.
Strict food safety standards apply to food retailers in Australia to ensure that the food you buy is safe. But there are some signs you can look for to ensure you buy a safe product. Once you buy the food, it’s up to you to make sure that it stays safe including not leaving shopping in a hot car. To read more about this topic, click here.
Resources available from over the years in various topics concerning consumer food safety. To view them, click here.
Source: Food Safety Information Council [13.11.2013]
While the food safety tips apply to all agricultural produce, fresh produce features as a significant risk to consumers due to the raw eaten nature of the product. Education on food safety is vital to ensure the integrity of fruit and vegetables to be healthy, nutritious and safe.