By Sherezade Rodriguez
Even though Floridians say consumers are largely responsible for the safety of their food, a study by the UF/IFAS Center for Public Issues Education shows that residents believe farmers are doing a better job.
Thirty-five percent of respondents indicated that farmers were doing a good job at protecting food safety, coinciding with 99 percent believing that farmers are responsible for keeping food safe.
Of those who said consumers play a role in protecting food safety, 54 percent indicated consumers are doing a fair job, compared to 19 percent of respondents who felt consumers were doing a good job. Fourteen percent of respondents to the online survey believed that consumers are not responsible for keeping food safe.
Although nearly all respondents said the government was responsible for protecting food safety, only 18 percent of respondents believed the government was doing a good job. Government agencies are responsible for setting food safety standards, conducting inspections, ensuring that standards are met and maintaining a strong enforcement program.
With consumer advocacy groups, 56 percent of Floridians in the study believed the organizations are doing a fair job protecting food safety. Just over half of respondents, 51 percent, said university scientists are doing a fair job at protecting food safety.
“When people in the industry or scientists define food safety, we’re talking about the bacteria that could be in food and things that are scientifically proven to make people sick,” said Joy Rumble, PIE Center researcher and assistant professor. “There seems to be a disconnect in consumers’ minds about what is safe to consume and what will make us sick.”
Consumers in the study indicated that food-processing corporations are completely responsible for protecting food safety, but only 19 percent of respondents believed that the corporations were doing a good job at keeping food safe.
With 28 percent, respondents pegged supermarkets as the second-highest entity doing a good job protecting food safety behind farmers.
Generally, respondents believed the individuals and organizations were doing a fair or good job of protecting food safety.
This is the PIE Center’s fourth survey in a series of public opinion surveys focused on important topics in agriculture and natural resources. Previous topics include water quality and quantity, immigration reform and endangered species. PIE Center researchers will revisit each topic next year to study how trends have changed.
