Eurasian consumers' food safety beliefs and trust issues in the age of COVID‐19: evidence from an online survey in 15 countries

Abstract

BACKGROUNDThis investigation provides an important insight into Eurasian consumers' food safety beliefs and trust issues influenced by the COVID‐19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted in 15 European and Asian countries involving more than 4000 consumers.RESULTSIt has confirmed that different socioeconomic characteristics, cultural aspects and education levels shape food safety perceptions within Eurasian countries. The COVID‐19 pandemic influenced their beliefs and trust in food safety, which is relatively low on average. However, it is significantly higher for European consumers (especially European Union ones) compared to their Asian counterparts. Both Asian and European respondents agreed that food fraud and climate changes represent a food safety issue. However, European consumers were less concerned regarding the food safety of genetically modified foods and meat and dairy analogs/hybrids. Asian consumers were, to a greater extent, worried about the risk of getting COVID‐19 from food, restaurants, food retail establishments and home food deliveries.CONCLUSIONEurasian consumers have put their greatest extent of trust, when food safety assurance is concerned, into food scientists and food producers holding a food safety certificate. Broadly, they are uncertain to what extent their federal governments and food inspectors are competent, able and efficient in ensuring food safety. Higher education of Eurasian consumers was followed by increased food safety confidence in all parts of the food chain. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Investigating Students’ Food Packaging-Related Challenges and Preferences in Europe and Asia

“…Moreover, food is perceived as a vital component of Indian culture and traditions which could be a contributory factor to such findings in India [26]. Additionally, it is evident that food safety concerns are more apparent in Asia compared with Europe, subsequently impacting food choice-related factors [27] as noted in our paper. In addition, the supermarket was the most popular food shopping location regardless of country.…”

Scientific literature review on measuring institutional trust in the domain of food regulation, food safety and public health nutrition

“…Boyadjieva and Ilieva-Trichkova (2015) found that higher levels of education were associated with higher levels of institutional trust. More educated consumers have higher levels of trust in all food system actors compared to less educated consumers (Tomasevic and Nikolic 2023).…”

“…Consumers may also consider regulatory institutions to be indirectly responsible for food fraud incidents, as regulators failed to detect and prevent adulteration and conduct appropriate testing or checks (Kendall et al 2018). Tomasevic et al (2023) found that media representations of food fraud raised awareness of food fraud among consumer groups and meant consumers believed that food fraud was a food safety issue. Food fraud incidents may still have a negative impact on consumer trust among consumers that do not experience food fraud firsthand.…”

“…Tomasevic et al (2023), each question is listed separately, e.g. "To what extent do you trust the food safety inspectors to ensure food safety" and "To what extent do you trust the federal government to ensure food safety".…”

“…To what extent do you trust the food safety inspectors to ensure food safety"(Tomasevic et al 2023) do you trust the following to keep fish safe to eat?" government agencies e.g., USDA, FDA(Runge et al 2021) "I trust the regulators in relation to the licencing and control of artificial colours/sweeteners in foods.…”