More than 70 percent of Americans find documentaries trustworthy on food information. Meanwhile, only 50 percent find print, broadcast, and online media trustworthy and only 38 find blogs and social medial trustworthy, according to The Hagstrom Report. The survey, released this week, was based on data collected for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in its report titled “Hungry for Information: Polling Americans on Their Trust in the Food System.”
The Chicago Council did not necessarily highlight the data on documentaries in its report, but did emphasize that the survey showed consumer care more about affordability and food safety when deciding what food to buy and consume.
“When we were writing the survey, films like ‘Food Inc.’ and ‘Fed Up’ were definitely on our minds when we added in ‘documentaries,’ but from the data we do have, we’re not able to unpack what was driving people’s trust in documentaries or which documentaries they watched–only that they trust documentaries a fair amount,” said Marcus Glassman, a food safety epidemiologist and the research associate in charge of The Chicago Council project.
“This report is just the beginning of a study series on public opinion and food and agriculture, we’re planning at the council, so we do intend to find out the answers to more in-depth questions as the project progresses,” Glassman said.
Documentaries fall “in the middle of the pack” when compared with other sources of information, Glassman said. Health professionals rank the highest at 85 percent, followed by friends and family at 83 percent; farmers at 82 percent; and scientists at 78 percent. Documentaries followed at 73 percent; then grocery stores at 65 percent; food packaging at 59 percent; print, broadcast, and online media at 50 percent; food companies at 49 percent, and blogs and social media at 38 percent.
The survey also found that 46 percent of Americans are “somewhat interested” in how the food they buy is produced, while 32 percent are “very interested.” “Americans want food producers to prioritize food safety most of all, followed by nutrition and affordability,” according to the report. When asked which issues Americans believe food producers prioritize, perceptions fall short of expectations by more than 50 percentage points on food safety and nutrition.
The analysis in the report is based on data collected for The Chicago Council by GfK Custom Research. The survey was fielded between September 25-27 among a national sample of 1,000 adults, 18 years of age or older, living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The margin of error is plus-or-minus 3 percentage points, with higher margins of error for demographic subgroups.
