United States-No confidence in food safety.

UNITED STATES-PEOPLE HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN USDA OR FOOD SAFETY.

A survey done in the wake of the recent peanut recall showed nearly a third of U.S. consumers do not see food processors as well prepared to deal with future food contamination outbreaks.

The online survey of 501 general consumers Feb. 5 and Feb. 6 conducted by Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates also revealed that lower-income consumers are more likely to make long-term changes to their food purchases as a result of recent food scares.

Better-known brands fared better than lesser-known ones in terms of consumers seeing a contamination problem as an isolated incident rather than part of a larger issue.

Survey findings included:

Nearly 70 percent of respondents said they believe instances of food contamination have been increasing over the past several years.

Sixty-five percent of respondents said they may make short-term changes to food purchases when there is a food contamination issue.

More than 25 percent of lower-income respondents have changed their long-term purchasing habits due to recent food issues, compared to less than 20 percent of higher-income Americans.

Only 11 percent strongly agreed food processors and manufacturers are well prepared to deal with future food contamination outbreaks, while 58 percent somewhat agreed, 27 percent somewhat disagreed and 4 percent strongly disagreed.

Forty-nine percent chose "food safety regulators" from a list of who they thought had the greatest responsibility for protecting consumers from food contamination, while 42 percent chose either "food processors" or "food manufacturers" and only 4 percent chose "consumers themselves."

A food contamination problem and associated product recall was considered an isolated incident rather than part of a larger problem by 52 percent of respondents if it was from a well-known food company, while 58 percent said they would think it was part of a larger problem if it came from an unfamiliar food company.

Eighty-seven percent of respondents at least somewhat agreed that America’s food safety system is among the best in the world, but only 28 percent of them strongly agreed.

The survey also showed consumers expect companies to provide as much information about a recall as quickly as possible and were most eager to know what to do if a family member is affected, the brand names involved in the recall and how to determine if they had impacted food products. They also want to know how the problem was fixed.

Just a few weeks after the Canadian federal government announced plans for an investigation into Maple Leaf Foods’ massive listeria-related recall last summer, a parliamentary committee announced it will conduct its own probe of the incident, the Toronto Star reported.

A subcommittee of the federal agriculture committee has pledged to carry out an open and transparent investigation of the outbreak’s details and look broadly at Canada’s food safety system. It will have the power to call witnesses and produce documents.

There has been criticism of the federal government’s probe, which will be conducted behind closed doors and will have no power to subpoena witnesses, the Star reported.