When Food Safety Slips

Warren Buffett wisely said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.” That’s particularly true in the area of food safety, as a new study released today by New York–based Deloitte LLC confirms.

The survey, “Food and Product Safety and Its Effect on Consumer Buying Habits,” finds that, more than half (58%) of consumers changed their buying habits in response to news about product safety and/or quality problems by avoiding such products for more than nine months, on average. This in turn increases the probability they would discontinue using the product or brand entirely. Nearly half (49%) said they were extremely concerned about safety of fresh food and packaged foods and beverages and more than half (54%)were more concerned about the safety of fresh food products than just a year ago. Foreign products are looked on with suspicion by approximately three-quarters of the respondents, with 73% extremely concerned about the safety of products produced in China, and half concerned about the safety of products from Southeast Asia and Mexico.

Since food consumption is universal and modern bulk processing leads to widespread effects, food is front and center in consumers' minds—and their loyalty—when it comes to accidental contamination or intentional adulteration. The food industry can’t afford to relax their vigilance because the stakes are so high...in lives, in profit and in a company’s reputation.

–Lynn A. Kuntz