Americans’ confidence in the federal government’s ability to ensure the safety of the U.S. food supply has reached a record low, according to polling organization Gallup Inc. 57% of U.S. adults say they have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in the government to keep the food supply safe, but that’s the lowest level since the poll began in 1999, and down 11 percentage points from the prior reading in 2019.
Roughly eight in 10 Americans expressed faith in the government to ensure food safety in Gallup measures from 1999 to 2006. After a massive salmonella outbreak in 2007, that dropped to about seven in 10 and remained at that level in 2008 and 2019 before dropping this year.
The data was collected as part of Gallup’s annual Consumption Habits poll, conducted July 1-21.
While 57% express at least a fair amount of confidence in the government to keep food safe, 28% of Americans do not have much confidence and 14% have “none at all.”
Among partisans, Republicans’ confidence has dropped the most since 2019, which could largely reflect the party of the incumbent president then (Republican Donald Trump) versus now (Democrat Joe Biden). 50% of Republicans currently say they have a great deal or fair amount of faith in the government’s assurance of food safety, a 27-point decrease from 2019.
Confidence is also down among political independents by 11 points, from 63% in 2019 to 52% today.
Conversely, more Democrats now (74%) than in 2019 (65%) express confidence in the federal government to ensure food safety.
The 50% of Republicans and 52% of independents expressing confidence in the government on food safety are the lowest Gallup has measured for any party group to date.
Aside from political parties, declining confidence is consistent across nearly all demographic subgroups.
One of the largest drops in confidence is seen among parents of young children -- 49% express confidence in the government’s assurance of the food supply, down from 67% in 2019. 60% of those who are not parents of young children are confident, compared with 68% in 2019. While the two groups held similar views five years ago, parents are now much less confident than non-parents in food safety.
Trust in food safety at grocery stores also has declined. 72% say they are very or somewhat confident, down from 81% in 2019. Confidence that grocery store foods are safe to eat has fallen among nearly all subgroups.
As with the question about trust in the government’s ability to ensure food safety, confidence in grocery stores is down more among Republicans (from 87% in 2019 to 73% today) than it is among independents (from 76% to 66%) and Democrats (from 82% to 80%). Parents and non-parents of minor children show similar declines, but parents (65%) continue to be less confident than non-parents (74%).
Two of the subgroups most likely to have confidence in the safety of food at grocery stores are adults with an annual household income of $100,000 or more (78%) and college graduates (75%). Younger Americans and those with less education are among the least confident in grocery store food safety.
Today’s Gallup news release noted the FDA issued 19 recalls for food products in June, just prior to the survey. 37% of respondents report having thrown out or returned food in the past year in response to a product recall or food safety advisory. 53% have avoided buying certain brands or types of food because of a recall or advisory, and 26% say they have worried that they may have eaten contaminated food.
Gallup also noted that when the food safety survey was taken in 2019, the U.S. government had issued more than 330 food recalls that year. In just the first six months of this year, 578 food products have been recalled.
