Consumer study indicates Finns trust their food

Unhealthy eating habits cause of concern

print this

According to the latest National Consumer Research Centre study, sixty percent of the Finns consider their food extremely safe. Nearly all the respondents trust that their food is safe at least to a certain degree. Furthermore, seven out of ten consumers believe the foodstuffs have become safer and healthier in resent decades.
     
About 1,200 Finns between the ages of 18 and 79 were interviewed for the study. Among food-related concerns, unhealthy eating habits and allergies in particular were mentioned.
      The notion of healthy food contains images of freshness, healthiness, familiarity, and naturalness.
      Consumers' attitude towards the use of new production and improvement technologies is bipartite. On the one hand, new low-fat products brought about by research and development are regarded positively and thought to be safe. GM food, on the other hand, is a cause of worry to more than half of those interviewed.
      Women are more suspicious of food supplies than men. The young trust their food more than the elderly.
     
The finding of the study - that Finns in general trust their food - is not explained only by the high quality of domestic foodstuffs. Research manager Johanna Mäkelä explains that the result reflects the consumers' wider trust in the Finnish society.
      "Finns trust the authorities; they believe that they will report it, should problems arise", Mäkelä says.
      Corresponding studies elsewhere in Europe reveal that northern consumers in general have greater trust in their food than their Southern European counterparts.
     


Links:
  National Consumer Research Centre

Helsingin Sanomat