More than half of consumers responding to a survey said they change their buying habits as the result of product quality problems such as recalls, often turning away from these products for as long as nine months.

A recent survey of 1,004 adult consumers commissioned by Deloitte LLP showed changes in buying habits were most common when quality problems occur in fresh food and packaged food and beverages as opposed to problems with toys and consumer electronics.

More than half (54 percent) of those surveyed said they were more concerned about the safety of fresh food products than they were a year ago.

Labels

The survey also showed that 67 percent of respondents indicated that food product labels with country -of -origin labeling would be extremely important in their buying decisions. About 73 percent said they were extremely concerned about the safety of products produced in China.

Most respondents wanted more information on the safety of food products, including:
• 86 percent want more information on packaging
• 81 percent want more on company Web sites and
• 81 percent want more information from the government.