Perception of food safety and the 'worldview' of Dutch consumers
Carla Geijskes and Antoon Opperhuizen
Office of Risk Assessment and Research
Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority
Chair of Risk Assessment and Risk Communication
NUTRIM, Maastricht University
The Netherlands
Since 2006 the Dutch government monitors the perception of citizens (the 'Consumenten Monitor Voedselveiligheid', 'Consumer Monitor of Food Safety', n = 3500 - 4100) about the safety of food. Biannually a set of standardized questions is released. A combined set of answers is applied and numerical values are used that indicate high (5) to low (0) trust in the safety of food. Results show that between 2006 - 2016 the average value is 3.5, but lower when food safety incidents occur.
In this study we analysed the pattern of the different elements of the Consumer Monitor. We tried to explain ups and downs in the values by combining details of the questions and answers with other sources of information. For example, more generic feelings about society may also influence the perceived food safety, like economical trust and political trust in the government. These observations are in line with the hypothesis of scholars as Karl Dake in the early ’90's about the social and cultural constructs of risk in society. Political, sociological and economic factors do seriously influence the 'worldview' of citizens, not only in the long run (years and decades) but also during shorter periods (months or less). Willingness to buy consumer goods as well as polls about the political party preferences of potential voters may be indicative for the 'worldview' of the general public. As such these parameters are used as ‘orienting dispositions’ in the present study that help to explain the results of the Consumer Monitor.
Moreover, the perception of safety also varies between different food products. For ‘basic’ products like fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy and bread the safety is perceived high and stable through the years. The perceived safety of meat (in particular pork and chicken) has decreased the last years, which can be explained by meat incidents, such as the horsemeat scandal in 2013. As for candy, vitamin supplements and products from the food manufacturing industry, the relatively low scores of perceived safety may be illustrations of Chauncey Starr’s paper 'Societal Benefits versus Technological Risk', which was published in 1969 and in which already a interrelationship between risk-safety perception of risk is related to general feelings and perceptions in public society.