Majority of Europeans think beef is unsafe

SEVEN out of 10 Europeans believe beef is unsafe and only a quarter of people think chicken is safe, a new survey has found.

In the survey on consumer trust in food, 29% believed beef was very safe, just 26% said chicken was safe, while 33% felt pork was safe.

Consumer responses to a question on whom they should believe in a food crisis were also very revealing.

Some 63% said they believed consumer organisations would tell the whole truth, followed by food experts at 52%, and food authorities at 34%.

Only 6% of respondents said that they would trust the processing industry.

Minister of State Liam Aylward said considerable effort has been made in rebuilding consumer confidence after the second BSE crisis of 2000 and other food scares.

But, based on the survey findings, there was still a considerable distance to go, he told chief veterinary officers of the EU and the accession states at a conference in Kilkenny.

Mr Aylward suggested chief veterinary officers should consider how consumer confidence in regulatory authorities and others can be boosted within the enlarged EU.

He also referred to the regulatory burden faced by small-scale food businesses and the need to ensure that regulations take into account scale of operation.

“In this age of globalisation of the food industry, we should be fostering the small locally-based food business, with products being sold at local markets” he said.