Thumbs up or thumbs down, many U.S. consumers are confident about the safety of their food.
The surprise here is that many of them aren’t, at least according to the findings of a recent survey commissioned by the International Food Information Council — the 20th consecutive year of its Food and Health Survey.
Bottomline, confidence in the safety of the U.S. food supply has hit an all-time low, according to the survey, which shows the beliefs, behaviors and attitudes of 3,000 U.S. adults, 18 to 80 years old.
And though confidence in the safety of the U.S. food supply has also fallen dramatically across nearly all demographic groups compared to 2024, the decline is most notable among Gen Z — ages 13 to 28 — those with higher household incomes, men, and Asian Americans.
The number say a lot. For example, 55 percent of Americans say they are very or somewhat confident in the safety of the U.S. food supply. That’s a sharp drop from 62 percent in 2024 and 70 percent in 2023. And only 11 percent of respondents are “very confident.” That number has also steadily declined from a high of 24 percent in 2022, dropping to 17 percent in 2023, 14 percent in 2024, and now in 2025, only 11 percent.
What do consumers care about?
Major concerns of those expressing low confidence in the safety of the U.S. food supply include a belief that profit outweighs food safety — 59 percent. They also think not all the parts of the food system work together to ensure safety — 54 percent. When it come to regulation, 46 percent said they don’t think there’s enough of it. And they point to the many recalls as proof there’s something wrong with the system.
A front row seat
Mike Costello, a food-science major in college and later an employee in several large food-manufacuring plants, said he believes that currently, food is mostly safe.
However, he said, when monitoring of food manufacturing declines, food processors will push the limit of safety.
‘Many won’t want to lose production time by cleaning up,” he said. “Downtime is very costly, and self-monitoring sometimes is not adequate especially when producers are trying to meet shipping deadlines. This can cause issues when standard cleaning time and frequency are not maintained.”
Time is also an issue for farmworkers who are often under the gun to get a crop picked quickly because the truck that will take the food to the processor is on its way. In an earlier interview with Food Safety News, a farmworker said in cases like that, if time is lost making sure food safety practices are being followed, a worker could actually be fired. Even so, he said that in most cases, the workers do want to do things right.
Foodborne illness tops the list
Foodborne illness from bacteria, such as E. coli, Salmonella or Listeria, tops this year’s list of what consumers are concerned about. Half of U.S. consumers put it among their top three.
This is a change in 2024, when cancer-causing chemicals in food were in the top spot with 47 percent. Following those two overall concerns are pesticides and pesticide residues at 46 percent and heavy metals in food at 41 percent.
Also on the rise are concerns about food additives and ingredients with 36 percent expressing worries.
Meanwhile, almost half of Americans surveyed said they believe the U.S. allows some food colors that are banned in other countries. And 4 in 10 believe both natural and artificial food colors must be labeled, and that food colors must be reviewed and approved by the U.S. government before being added to food products — 38 percent.
What about imported foods?
U.S. consumers aren’t as apprehensive about imported foods as they were a decade ago. Only 32 percent believe imported foods are less safe than those produced in the U.S., down from 52 percent in 2014.
Yet, at the same time, opinions about how healthy imported foods are come in as a mixed bag: 21 percent say imported foods aren’t as healthy as U.S. foods, 19 percent say they’re healthier, 30 percent think they’re about the same, and 31 percent say they’re unsure.
What about solutions?
According to the report, education and stronger safeguards could rebuild trust. Four in 10 U.S. consumers said would become more confident about the safety of their food if they had a better understanding of how the government and food companies make sure food is safe. And about the same number of consumers said they would feel more confident if there were stricter regulations around the safety of the food supply.
“Americans are clearly asking for more transparency and collaboration across the food system,” said Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, MS, RDN, IFIC President & CEO. “We must meet this moment with credible information, and a renewed commitment to building trust through clear and consistent communication. Food safety is foundational to public health, and trust is its cornerstone.”
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