By Chang Liu
Although many Floridians have a relatively sunny outlook on the domestic food supply, a recent study by the UF/IFAS Center for Public Issues Education shows residents are more concerned about food security on both international and personal scales.
PIE Center researchers asked 510 Floridians for their opinions regarding food safety, food security and genetically modified foods in an online survey conducted in October. Forty-four percent of respondents said they were not worried about food running out in the United States.
More than half of the respondents expressed at least a minimal level of worry toward the U.S. food supply, which interested PIE Center researcher Joy Rumble, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication.
“I think a lot of times that food security in the U.S. is underplayed and we don’t give it as much attention as we should,” she said. “We’re starting to see a little more concern among consumers about food security in the US, which shows the opportunity and the need to provide more information to consumers.”
An estimated 14.5 percent of American households were food insecure at least some time during 2012, as reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Floridians understand that the issue of global food security is more severe than in the United States, as 72 percent of respondents said they were at least slightly worried about the world running out of food. Nearly a third of the respondents indicated their concern was at a moderate or an extreme level, compared to 29 percent not showing worry at all.
According to the USDA, 870 million people around the world do not have access to a sufficient supply of nutritious and safe food.
At the personal level, respondents indicated that food safety and affordability were the most serious issues. Seventy-one percent of respondents were at least slightly worried about their access to safe food. The ability to afford food was a concern of 66 percent of respondents, and 33 percent were moderately or extremely worried about affording food.
Although the U.S. is the most food secure nation in the world, according to the report from Global Food Security Index, strength at a national level doesn’t secure individual access to enough safe and nutritious food. According to a report from Feeding America, 17 percent of Floridians went hungry in 2012, and 27 percent of children in the state were food insecure.
In addition, 57 percent respondents expressed worries of being able to have enough food and 59 percent showed concern about having nutritious, balanced meals.
The responses to this survey were weighted to be representative of 2010 Census demographics. This is the fourth section of PIE Center’s series of public opinion surveys. Previous topics were water quality and quantity, immigration reform and endangered species.
