Food Safety Worries Make Consumers Label-Savvy

At a Food Institute conference, The Hartman Group's Kate Peringer said, "There's been a lot of scares in the last year involving tainted goods from other countries, China has had a considerable number of problems in this arena," reflected in the 75% of consumers who feel that Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) should be required. An estimated 60% of consumers feel it is "somewhat" or "very" important to know the source of food ingredients.

Peringer also commented, "One thing our research has shown is that if consumers cannot understand or pronounce an ingredient on the food label, then they will generally consider it bad," no matter where it comes from. "We recommend that food formulators use ingredients that are simple, clean and easy if they want to have consumers' confidence."