Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 9/13/11

U.S. consumers apparently are less concerned about food safety than a year ago, despite recent cases of foodborne illnesses that affected nearly twice as many participants, according to a new survey.

The joint poll by Thomson Reuters and National Public Radio found that 57 percent of consumers were concerned about the safety of their food, down from 61 percent in an identical survey conducted in 2010.
In terms of specific foods, the survey found that respondents were most concerned about the safety of meat (44 percent), poultry (30 percent), seafood (20 percent) and dairy (6 percent). Yet, all of these specific results indicate lower levels of concern than in the year-ago poll.

The survey also uncovered that among the respondents who actually contracted foodborne illnesses in the previous three months, 22 percent called the situation serious, up from 12 percent in the 2010 survey.
Households with lower incomes also showed more concern about food safety with 68 percent of those earning less than $25,000 per year expressing their fears about the food they eat being safe. About half of those earning more than $100,000 annually were concerned about food safety.

Additional information about the survey is available here. 

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