Public confidence in food safety in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has increased, according to a survey by the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
The survey, conducted between October 2024 and February 2025 among 5,690 adults, found that 94% of respondents are confident that the food they buy is safe to eat. This is a higher proportion than in the previous three surveys, where the rate was between 88 and 90 percent.
This is also the highest level of public confidence in food safety since the launch of the Food and You 2 project in 2020.
Strong confidence in food safety
Respondents were more likely to be concerned about whether food produced outside the UK is safe and hygienic and what it claims to be compared to food made in the UK.
“These results show that the public has high confidence in food safety, which is very encouraging. Our job is to protect people by ensuring that food is safe and what it claims to be, and this confidence reflects the hard work being done across the food system,” said Katie Pettifer, chief executive of the FSA.
A recent Eurobarometer survey by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) revealed that seven in ten Europeans have a personal interest in food safety.
The UK survey found that 70 percent of participants always wash their hands before preparing or cooking food, and 92 percent always wash their hands immediately after handling raw meat, poultry or fish.
Nearly 40 percent said they occasionally wash raw chicken. The FSA’s advice is not to wash raw chicken and meat, as they can spread harmful bacteria to hands, clothing, utensils and work surfaces.
Reported consumption habits
Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said they always check expiration dates before cooking or preparing food. Salad and bagged cheese were the foods most likely to eat after the use-by date.
Sixty percent correctly said their refrigerator temperature should be between zero and 5 degrees C (32 and 41 degrees F), but a fifth said it should be above 41 degrees F.
Just under half of those surveyed said they had checked a business’s food hygiene rating in the last 12 months.
In total, 81 percent of those surveyed said they would only reheat food once, 10 percent would reheat it twice, and 3 percent would reheat it more than twice. The FSA recommends reheating food only once.
In line with FSA advice, around six in ten people said they would eat leftovers within two days. However, 28 percent would eat them within 3 to 5 days and 2 percent said more than 5 days.
The report found that 83 per cent of respondents were confident that the FSA can be relied on to protect the public from food-related risks, up from 78 to 79 per cent in the previous three surveys. In total, 81 percent were confident the FSA would take action if a risk was identified, and 77 percent believed the agency communicates openly with the public about food-related risks.
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