WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Americans' confidence that food sold at most grocery stores is safe to eat, has fallen to its lowest level, Gallup has found in its latest survey, with only 65 percent now very or somewhat confident. That is down from 73 percent last year and 72 percent in 2024, and well below the 81 percent recorded in 2019.
Americans' confidence in grocery food safety and in the federal government's ability to ensure the safety of the food supply are both at new lows, after a major cyclospora outbreak in the country sickened more than 12,000 people across 21 states.
The overall 16-percentage-point decline in confidence since 2019 reflects decreases in both the 'very confident' group, from 31 percent to 23 percent, and the 'somewhat confident' group, from 50 percent to 42 percent. Meanwhile, the share who are 'not too confident' or 'not at all confident' has risen from 18 percent to 34 percent.
This year's survey was conducted as a major outbreak of cyclospora parasite began in June in the U.S. and the threat waned by September. Likewise, the 2024 reading came amid numerous food recalls and serious illnesses linked to contaminated produce and other foods.
Although much of the news coverage of the recent food scare focused on produce at some restaurants, Americans rate the safety of restaurant and grocery food similarly. In Gallup's first measure of restaurant food safety, about two-thirds are very much or somewhat confident that food at most restaurants is safe to eat, while 33 percent are not too or not at all confident.
Alongside declining confidence in grocery store food safety, Americans have become less confident in the federal government's ability to ensure the safety of the U.S. food supply, the survey finds.
Currently, 47 percent of U.S. adults have a great deal or a fair amount of confidence in the federal government to ensure food safety, which is a record low. That is down from 53 percent last year and 68 percent in 2019, and well below the 2004 high of 85 percent. For the first time, a majority of Americans have not much or no confidence at all in the government to ensure food safety.
The latest poll also updated a question asking Americans whether they had taken each of three steps within the past year in response to a government food safety advisory or product recall.
The most common, and the one that has increased the most since 2024, is avoiding purchasing certain brands or types of food. Seventy-three percent of U.S. adults say they have done this in the past year, up 20 points from 53 percent of respondents saying so in 2024. The current figure also exceeds the percentages avoiding certain foods in 2007 and 2008, when significant food safety issues were in the news.
Additionally, 45 percent of Americans say they have thrown out or returned a food product to the store in the past year, up from 37 percent in 2024 and slightly higher than the 40 percent found in 2007. Similarly, a trend-high 42 percent, up from 26 percent in 2024, say they have worried that something they ate may have been contaminated, according to the poll conducted by Gallup.
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