KEY POINTS:
New Zealanders are more concerned with house prices and crime rates than they are with their diet, research shows.
The 2007 Consumer Attitude Survey from Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) showed that on average New Zealanders felt crime levels, household finances, the health system and house prices were of greater concern than healthy eating.
The researchers investigated attitudes to healthy eating and food safety and surveyed 800 New Zealanders, aged 14 and older, online.
The top three food-related concerns nominated were food poisoning, obesity levels in the population and the amount of sugar in food.
A quarter of those who said they had a role in grocery shopping said they "always" referred to the labelling information when they were purchasing a product for the first time.
The best-before date was the most commonly read label, with 70.9 per cent of respondents reportedly using the label. This was followed by the fat content (55.9 per cent) and the amount of sugar in the product (52.6 per cent).
Seventy per cent of respondents expressed confidence in their ability to make an informed decision from the information on food labels.
In terms of food safety nearly half of those surveyed (49 per cent) felt food safety had remained "about the same" over the past year, while 23 per cent felt it was "a little better" and 11 per cent felt it was "a little worse".
Overall, 68 per cent of people reported that they were confident that the food supply as a whole was producing safe food for consumption.
Food hygiene and safety in the home did not appear to be a major concern, with 93 per cent of respondents reporting confidence in this area.
- NZPA
