Food Labeling Poll 2008

Selected Survey Questions:

Which of the following types of food would you buy if they were available?

• Meat or milk products from genetically engineered animals (29%)
• Milk or milk products from cloned animals or their offspring (26%)
• None of these (62%)
• Don't know (2%)

Would you pay more for the following types of foods:

• Milk/milk products produced without artificial growth hormones (57%)
• Meat products labeled as tested for mad cow disease (49%)
• Milk from organic cows that were confined indoors and did not graze outdoors (19%)
• None of these (26%)
• Don't know (1%)

Do you think the "naturally raised label" on a meat product should mean:

• It came from an animal whose diet was free of chemicals, drugs and animal byproducts (86%)
• It came from an animal that was raised in a natural environment (85%)
• It did not come from a cloned or genetically engineered animal (78%)
• It came from an animal that had access to the outdoors (77%)
• It came from an animal that was treated humanely (76%)
• No salt water was added to the cut of meat (69%)
• It came from an animal that was not confined (68%)
• None of these (2%)
• I don't know (1%)

Respondents indicated they were "very concerned" with the following issues:

• Harmful bacteria or chemicals in food (62%)
• Safety of imported foods (58%)
• Safety of meat treated with carbon monoxide to preserve red color (45%)
• Dairy cows given synthetic growth hormones (43%)
• Eating meat or milk products from cloned or genetically engineered animals (39%)
• Ocean pollution caused by fish farms advertised as organic (34%)
• Degradation of plastics used to make or line food and beverage containers (31%)
• Genetic engineering of food crops or animals to produce drugs, such as insulin (22%)
• Health problems associated with eating fish caught in the wild (22%)

Respondents "strongly" or "somewhat" agreed with the following food production and safety statements:

• Meat companies should be allowed to test and label meat products as "tested for mad cow disease" (96%)
• Processed or packaged foods should be labeled by country of origin (95%)
• Country of origin labeling for products should always be available at point of purchase (95%)
• Food products made from genetically engineered animals should be labeled as such (95%)
• Specialty meat and fish stores should label their products by county of origin. (94%)
• Meat and dairy products from cloned animals should be labeled as such (94%)
• Meat treated with carbon monoxide should be labeled as such (93%)
• Fish labeled organic should be produced from 100% organic feed like all other organic animal foods (93%)
• Dairies that produce milk and milk products without artificial growth hormones should be allowed to label their products as being free of these hormones (93%)
• Meat that contains any irradiated components should be labeled as such (92%)
• Organic fish farms should be required to recover all waste so it can't pollute the environment (90%)
• Cloning of food animals should be prohibited (69%)

Additional findings:

• 73% of respondents consider the nation's food supply to be safe, while 26% consider it to be unsafe and 1% don't know.
• Over the past several years, 20% say their confidence in the nation's food supply has increased, while 32% believe it has stayed the same and 48% think that it has decreased.
• Slightly more than half (54%) believe the government is doing all it can to ensure the safety of the American food supply; 45% disagree and 1% don't know.