Consumers seek food’s country of origin
The findings of an Agri Aware survey published in Dublin yesterday revealed that 97% of consumers wanted to be better informed on the country of origin of produce.
Absence of information on food, particularly in hotels, pubs and catering outlets, leads two-thirds of consumers to assume that the country of origin is Ireland. This assumption is compounded by the fact that only 12% of consumers check that the food they buy when eating out is Irish. This is in stark contrast with consumer behaviour when purchasing food in shops as two-thirds of them check the country of origin and buy Irish when the information is available.
Agri Aware chairman Mike Magan, noting that consumers are clearly in favour of purchasing Irish food, called in particular on hotels, pubs and catering outlets to give them what they want quality food produced in Ireland. "This study shows that the consumer wants to buy Irish produce at every opportunity. However, many consumers are not aware that imports make up 22.6% of domestic beef use, 31% of domestic pigmeat use and 34% of domestic poultry use," he said.
Mr Magan, stressing that farmers' are proud and committed producers of safe food in a quality environment, called on all those involved in the sale of food to join the Féile Bia initiative.
In doing so they would be showing a commitment to food produced in Ireland and meeting the consumers' clearly expressed demand for Irish food.
"If we want Irish food we must ask the question when shopping and eating out as too many of us are hoodwinked into assuming that the food we are purchasing is Irish," he said.
Dr Pat Bogue, Shannon Showcase Consultants, carried out the study over the summer at 10 locations.
It found that consumers consider the quality of food, the price, country of origin, health, taste, and convenience as important factors when shopping and eating out. While 33% of consumers consider price as the most important factor when buying food, over 40% rate quality as the most important factor when purchasing food.
Overall, the majority of consumers consider basic food items to represent good value for money. Seventy-seven percent of consumers consider milk to be excellent, good or reasonable value.
Fifty-seven percent of consumers believe meat to be expensive or very expensive. Vegetables were also seen to represent poorer value for money than milk and bread.
Consumers regard the price returning to farmers as not being fair for their efforts in producing quality food. Over 50% of them felt the retailer was the main beneficiary from the price of meat.
Mr Magan said the study indicates that retailers and catering outlets have questions to answer, as, in the mind of the consumer, the price paid for food bears no relation to the price paid to the farmer.
Eight out of ten consumers believe the farmer benefits least from the price of food across all the basic food items. The study also concludes that consumers believe the introduction of the Euro has resulted in an increase in food prices.
The study shows that 75% of consumers are confident in Irish food safety standards. Most consider Irish food to be of higher quality than that of other countries.
