More and more Europeans know how EU food safety works, says latest citizen survey

More and more Europeans know how EU food safety works, says latest citizen survey

The share of European citizens who say they are aware of the workings of the EU food safety system has jumped by 6% points since 2022 while their familiarity with a wide range of food safety issues has steadily grown.

These findings and a wealth of additional results on what drives food choices in Europe are available in the new "2025 Eurobarometer Survey on Food Safety in the EU". EFSA conducts the survey every 3 years, which this year includes both the 27 EU Member States and 7 EU Candidate Countries at the same time.

• See the summary of key findings below!

"Hugely encouraging"

EFSA's Executive Director Nikolaus Kriz said: "The new figures on citizens' awareness of EU food safety are hugely encouraging for EFSA and our many partners across Europe.

"We will continue to join forces with the European Commission and our national partners to communicate to citizens about how the food safety system benefits them."

In 2019 the EU introduced new rules on transparency, data accessibility and risk communication The interactive exchange of information and opinions throughout the risk analysis process, including the explanation of risk assessment findings and the basis of risk management decisions. The levels of interactive exchange include: the dissemination of public information about risks to consumers or other affected groups; the dialogue within and between risk assessment and risk management; engagement with interested parties affected by risk analysis outcomes., among which was a call to improve consumer understanding of how food safety decisions are reached, including the relevance of scientific evaluations.

Factors influencing food choices

Some 7 in 10 Europeans say they are personally interested in food safety and food safety comes third (46%) behind cost (60%) and taste (51%) among the factors influencing their food choices.

The relevance of cost has increased an additional 6 percentage points since 2022 and was the top factor in 20 EU Member States, underlying the ongoing strains on many people in Europe to make ends meet.

Taking food safety for granted?

The most common reason for not following food safety information is taking it for granted that the food sold is safe, as stated by four in ten (41%) Europeans, followed by knowing enough to avoid or mitigate food risks (30%).

Barbara Gallani, Head of Communication and Partnerships at EFSA, said: "It is positive that so many people in the EU have confidence in the safety of their food.

"At the same time, we and our partners need to keep underlining that food safety is a shared responsibility. Consumers have an important role to play, for example, in relation to food hygiene, food preparation and following healthy and varied diets."

Top food safety issues

Increasing numbers of Europeans have heard about the 15 specific food safety topics they were asked about. The most familiar ones remain food additives (71%) and pesticides (67%) in line with previous survey results, but notable increases were seen in awareness of animal diseases (65%, up 5 percentage points), microplastics in food (63%, up 8 percentage points) and food poisoning (62%, up 5 percentage points).

The top concerns for consumers among these issues remain pesticides (39%), antibiotics/hormones/steroids in meat (36%) and food additives (35%) albeit their respective shares have fallen slightly since 2022.

Concern about microplastics in food saw the sharpest rise in focus with 33% of respondents, marking a 4 percentage points increase since the last survey.

The Eurobarometer survey results reported above are for the average among the 27 EU Member States. In many of these categories there are significant differences across countries and between socio-demographic categories (e.g. age groups, level of education, household income).

For more details consult the full report, national factsheets for the 27 EU Member States and 7 EU Candidate Countries, and our infographic!

Summary of key findings from the 2025 Eurobarometer on food safety:

• Awareness of the food safety system - eight in ten EU citizens (79%, up 6 percentage points) agree there are regulations in place to make sure that the food they eat is safe; 76% agree that the EU relies on scientists to give expert advice, also up 6 percentage points; 68% agree the EU has a separate institution that provides scientific advice, up 7 percentage points; 71% agree that EU and national authorities work together, also up 6 percentage points.
• Healthy diets vs food safety - about four in ten (41%, down 5 percentage points since 2022) say they have about the same level of attention on both having a healthy diet and food risks. About one-third (34%, up 3 percentage points) are more focused on having a healthy diet, while around two in ten (23%, up 2 percentage points) are more concerned about food risks.
• Human health and animal/plant health - similarly to 2022, most EU citizens think that animal issues (53%) and environmental issues (51%) have a strong impact on human health, but for environmental and plant issues there has been a shift from strong to moderate impact.
• Trusted sources - nine in ten EU citizens trust GPs and specialist doctors (90%) as sources of information on food risks. Scientists working at a university or publicly-funded research organisation (84%), consumer organisations (82%) and farmers and primary producers (82%) also rank highly. Trust in national authorities (70%) and EU institutions (69%) has increased slightly since 2022 (4 and 3 percentage points up, respectively).
• Information channels - over half (55%) indicate television as one of their main sources of information about food risks, still the highest of all channels but 6 percentage points down on 2022. Exchanges with family, friends, neighbours, or colleagues (42%) and internet search engines (38%) come second and third. Online social networks and blogs are used by 25%, an increase of 4 percentage points on the last survey.

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