Truth or Scare
Submitted on Jan 19, 2007 (Original item from March, 2004)
Diet and Nutrition | Food Safety, Additives or Diseases | Food Trends | Health, Personal Health | Product Labeling, Certification or Regulation
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Short Description:
General article about interest in sources and safety of the U.S. food supply, including discussion of organic and natural foods, food safety, health motivators, labeling, and other issues.
Abstract:
More Americans are making health, nutrition and food safety a priority, purchasing $13.5 billion of natural and organic food in 2002, which is 8.95 more than the previous year.
A poll conducted for American Demographics in January, 2004 by Harris Interactive, of 2289 respondents, 25% were either "extremely concerned" or "very concerned" about the safety of meat and produce. 39% believe that organic or natural foods are healthier and 33% believe they are safer.
According to Professor Sap of Iowa State University, Baby Boomers are driving the demand for organic foods because they are health-conscious and have the ability to pay higher prices.
About two-thirds of all consumers who witched to organic foods are motivated primarily by health benefits.
The Harris poll found that 39% of all Americans say they "always" or "often" inspect food labels to find out how the product was produced. Older people tend to inspect labels more often than younger ones, 50% of men ages 45-54, 55% of women, age 55+.
A January 16th, Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive poll found that 21% of Americans plan to reduce beef consumption out of fear of mad cow disease. 78% stated they would eat less beef, while 16% said they would stop beating beef entirely.
At the end of 2003, 96% of Americans were highly aware of and concerned about mad cow disease. By mid January, 90% were confident that US beef was safe, which was an increase of 2% from this same poll taken in September.
Spot Check Number:
233
Sponsor:
American Demographics
Animal Type:
Human
Record Type:
News Article
Research Method:
Unknown or Not Applicable
Geographic Region:
United States National
Number of Participants:
Unknown/Not Applicable
Year Conducted:
March, 2004
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