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[Simon]

I came across a survey commissioned by the Food Standards Agency back in 2001. The research was about attitudes towards buying food and food concerns among the public. The total sample of 1003 interviews was achieved with the general public in Great Britain.

Below are a few snippets extracted from the survey, the full results can be found here:
Food Concerns Omnibus Survey

Q.1 Thinking about food/grocery shopping, what would you say are the most important factors that influence the food you buy? (Unprompted)

The top five factors listed by those questioned for the poll were:

Price (46%)
Taste (18%)
Quality (17%)
Personal and family health (12%)
Production method - organic, free range (10%)

"Food safety concerns" was mentioned spontaneously by only 4%.

The poll also showed that, when prompted, the following were either very important or quite important to most people:

Personal and family health (98%)
Taste (97%)
Food safety concerns (93%)
Conditions in which animals are raised (88%)
Environmental concerns (88%)
Price (82%)
Appearance (78%)
Locally produced food (65%)
Production method (62%)
Seasonal choices (56%)
Country of origin (52%)
Brand Name (41%)

So my theory is proved, food safety is extremely important but we all take it for granted.

Regards,
Simon