The main food concern among Irish consumers in 1998, it seems, is food safety. Three years ago, it would have been fat, fat and more fat.
People nowadays are also particularly keen for information on the colossal amount of "functional foods" appearing on supermarket shelves, according to a US study. This includes any item claiming to give a health benefit, such as soya products, red wine, garlic, vitamins and biofidis yoghurts. News stories about food and health bombard us daily. At times it almost seems that whichever way you turn there is an article, television report or radio slot that is food-related. What do consumers actually hear and read from media sources? How auth oritative are they? Do they prompt a change in lifestyle?
Having analysed 38 media outlets over three months last year, the International Food Information Council says consumers may not be receiving all the details necessary to make informed decisions about food and health. Only a third of stories about the beneficial or harmful associations of food mentioned had a contextual element. "Consumers are hampered more by missing information than misinformation," says IFIC president Ms Sylvia Rowe.
Why is context so important? People want and need to know the amount of a foodstuff which should be consumed; the recommended frequency of consumption, whether the effects of consumption are cumulative, and whether there are differences in those effects over different groups. The best media people for context were health/medical reporters, the IFIC found.
Providing context not only increases the accuracy of stories but helps the consumer judge whether a report is relevant to his or her life. In 1997, for example, only 14 per cent of stories about the benefits and harms of food mentioned how much of the food consumers needed to receive the benefit or harm.
The amount of discussion of food safety topics has increased dramatically, making food-borne illness the number one topic overall. The focus on fat consumption had faded since 1995, though fat-related disease may still pose a greater risk than food bugs.
