Differences in household attitudes on food defence and food safety: an international comparison

This paper reports results from a large, six-nation, internet-based survey of consumer attitudes toward food safety and food defence administered during the fall of 2008. Responses were obtained from separate samples of approximately 1,000 each in Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the USA. Food defence was generally a greater concern, and respondents were less confident that their food supply was well protected against terrorist attack than they were that their food was safe from contamination from naturally occurring pathogens. Respondents also believed a greater percentage of national food protection budgets should be spent on food safety rather than food defence. Processors were considered most responsible for both food safety and food defence, with government also playing a major role in food defence.