Brits trust takeaways the least out of all food outlets, says research
42% believe that takeaways are the ones most likely to sell fraudulent foods.
According to NFU Mutual Food Fraud Report 2017, overall consumers believe that there is an issue with food fraud and crime. Under a third of people surveyed (27%) suggested that they had personally experienced at least one issue relating to food fraud such as hidden ingredients in food, misleading labelling or swapped ingredients.
This figure more than doubled when consumers were asked specifically about their perceptions of how the UK food industry is affected by the very same issues – nearly three quarters of people (72%) believe there to be an issue with food fraud in the UK.
According to the study, the levels of trust are affected by the types of outlet that serve the food. Local suppliers (6%) and mid (6%) and high (4%) range supermarkets are the most trusted.
Takeaways and online sellers have the most work to do to enhance consumer trust with 42% and 21% votes respectively.
Following the food takeaways and online sellers are: convenience stores (16%), restaurants (15%), budget supermarkets (14%), artisan food market (13%), newsagents (11%), and regular food market with 10%.
One third (33%) also said that they are less trusting of products and retailers than they were five years ago, compared with only 9% whose trust has increased.
Confidence in the British supply chain (38%) is relatively high in comparison with foreign supply chains, but this trust is still only represented by under half of the population surveyed. Food assurance stamps have been found to have a very strong influence on trust and purchase decisions, with 67% of people using them to help choose the products that they buy. The Fairtrade stamp was believed to be the most influential.
