Ohio State Survey: Food Safety Concerns Increasing

Although Ohioans continue to feel positive about farming's contribution to overall quality of life, their anxiety about food safety continues to increase.

That's significant, because concerns about the economy appear to have overshadowed other types of concerns that respondents were asked about in the 2008 Ohio Survey of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Issues.

The survey is conducted every two years. This year, the 12-page survey was mailed to 3,500 randomly selected Ohioans. The response rate was greater than 48 percent, which is lower than in previous years but still favorable for mail surveys.

According to the survey, 57 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, "Food is not as safe as it was 10 years ago," compared to 44 percent in 2006, and 40 percent in 2002. The number of respondents who "strongly agreed" with that statement jumped from 14 percent in 2002 up to 26 percent in 2008, indicating that feelings about food safety are becoming stronger among some Ohioans.

Neal Hooker, an associate professor of agricultural, environmental and development economics and a project team member at Ohio State University, has conducted research on food safety issues and how they relate to policy. He said some of the increase seen this year could be because of short-term food safety issues that were in the news just before and during the distribution of the surveys, between March and June — including concerns about food and other products from China and a produce-related salmonella problem at the start of the summer. Nevertheless, it looks like there is a trend on increasing concern in the past several years. People are becoming more aware of food safety issues, but that might be reflected in the numbers the survey showed.

Source: Newark Advocate