Over one quarter of consumers have experienced food fraud in the UK and it could be costing the food and drink industry up to £12 billion annually.
NFU Mutual's Food Fraud Report 2018, which holds responses from over 2,000 British consumers, suggests there’s a big problem with perception and trust on the supermarket shelves.
Alarmingly, one third of people (33%) say that they are less trusting of products and retailers than they were five years ago.
The report has encouraged UK marketplace website OnBuy.com to highlight the food product features consumers trust the least.
The food product features consumers trust the least is the ‘far-fetched claims about benefits’ and those with a ‘label text in a different language’ – both at 40%, which reveals transparency and honesty is key to consumer trust.
‘Poor quality packaging’ (34%) and an ‘unknown brand’ (33%) garnered high results too, alongside ‘sparse labelling or text’ – at 28%.
24% of consumers mistrust a ‘non-British product’, while 23% would be put-off by a ‘cheap price.’
Optimistically, just 3% of consumers say they do not trust a ‘British product’ – a promising sign for farming businesses to thrive on home soil come Brexit.
