Consumers are demanding greater transparency in the food supply chain after the horsemeat scandal hit trust in retail.
The survey, of 2,287, commissioned by tech company Trace One this April, found that 21st century consumers who are armed with mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, want to use them to gain exposure to rich product information.
SVP of Trace One Nick Martin said the 16-24 age group, although not having large purchasing power, was becoming increasingly important. He said that food quality and labelling is paramount for consumers to have confidence in products and dismissed that price was people‘s main issue when buying groceries.
Half of beefburgers and sausages sampled by Leicester Trading Standards earlier this year contained DNA of “wrong animals.” For example, samples of lamb curry contained cheaper beef or a mix of beef and lamb or turkey.
63 per cent of the shoppers interviewed claimed their trust in the food industry had been damaged by revelations such as the horsemeat crisis, while 83 per cent now wish to see more transparency and information displayed on their food products. Although respondents felt information on sugar (52 per cent) and fat (48 per cent) was equally as important, they also rated health information on food packaging as the most important type of information overall. Trace One did not release specific figures for other age groups but maintained they were “quite similar.”
The over-65s showed the greatest loss of trust in the food industry and were more demanding of extra information and transparency on products. They were also most concerned about products‘ country of origin. In comparison, 16-25-year-olds showed the least trust lost in the food industry and were the age group most concerned about information on ethics.
