The Ministry of Agriculture has conducted an online survey among 26.500 Italian consumers made up of 11 questions relating food traceability and labelling informations.
Over three quarter of the respondents believe that tracing food is necessary to address risks and preserve pubblic health. A clear understanding of the place of origin and production of food items help this objective and matters much more than in the past years. Past food crisis have illustrated the particurarly importance of being able to identify unsafe foodstuffs. More than half (54%) of the respondents say that they usually choose food products which have a typical regional origin, a less larger percentage (45%) seek for pdo and pgi while 39% of the consumers prefer biological products.
“The clear indication whereby food products come from – states Minister Maurizio Martina – is a fundamental step to move forward towards transparent informations and prevention of dishonesty. Today we are stronger than in the past, because this result will be presented in Bruxelles where we will offer incisive proposals in order to meet consumer demands for consistent supply of quality food”.
But what are the most loved items? The unanimity of the respondents indicates domestic Italian food products. Moreover they indicate the stamp of clear origin informations on the label of food products to be fundamental in purchaising decision for fresh meat and fresh milk (95%), dairy and cheese (90%) fruits and vegetables (88%), salami ( 87%), rice (81%). The report shows that 22% of consumers are willing to pay extra earnings to get secured food traceability.