Table Talk

What is the state of the relationship between consumers and the food industry? What do consumers think about the food they eat? How safe do they consider the food they buy to be? And what can the food industry learn from tracking consumer behaviour? In the UK, many of those questions can be answered by looking at the results of the Food Standards Agency's flagship Food and You 2 Survey. We all have individual concerns and behaviours around food, but what do these individual preferences add up to when scaled to the national level? And how can the food industry use that information? According to the survey, the biggest consumer concerns are food waste, the amount of sugar in food, and animal welfare.  More than 50% of respondents reported feeling worried about these issues. The environment has shown itself to be a key issue too, with one third of people who responded to the survey saying they have intentionally bought food which has a low environmental impact. Consumer confidence appears high, with 92% s