Food Protection Trends - January/February 2015 - 29

Phase two: Survey
Focus group results from phase one suggest that
participants are aware of perceived risks but less aware of
the benefits of food additives. Using content generated from
focus groups, phase two explored the idea of uncertainty
with a larger and more diverse sample. Respondents (n =
1,000) were mainly Caucasian (81%) and married (69%).
Other ethnicities represented included African American
(10%), Hispanic (6%), and Asian or Pacific Islander (4%);
2% of mothers selected "other" for their ethnic background.
Education and income varied considerably. Most mothers

had "some college or associate's degree" (44%) or a
bachelor's degree (25%). Thirty percent of the sample
had a total household income (in 2011) of $35,000, 20%
fell between $35,000 and $50,000, and 22% ranged from
$50,000 to $75,000.
Phase two: Chemical perceptions
Respondents overwhelmingly perceived products with
chemical components negatively. Two-thirds of respondents
said that chemicals have a strong impact on their food
purchases. One-third stated that packaging (which
mentions or excludes information about chemicals) has a
strong impact on their decision to buy a product. Mirroring
the observations from the focus groups, survey respondents
expressed a significant degree of chemophobia, although
this risk competed with other food purchasing factors (e.g.,
cost, convenience, other health concerns, such as allergens).
Phase two: Motivating elements for specific attitudes
Consumers shared that they have powerful intentions
to buy, cook, and serve healthful food for their families.
However, this priority often conflicts with the convenience,
cost, and access to foods that contain added substances.
Mothers say that their greatest health concerns are food
safety involving microbes (such as E. coli, Salmonella, or
Listeria outbreaks) and food that might contain ingredients
that could evoke allergic reactions in family members.
When asked what actions respondents would take regarding
food safety, they listed personal relevance to issues. For
example, 60% of respondents would alter food choices
based on allergen labeling, compared with 35% percent who
would stop purchasing foods with BPA and 24% percent
who would stop purchasing foods with acrylamide.
Phase two: Health and chemicals
Survey results show two-thirds of households (63%)
have a family member impacted by at least one health
issue. One-quarter mention high blood pressure and/or
high cholesterol as a family health condition. Nearly one
in five (17%) acknowledge that a family member lives with
a food allergy. Seventy-one percent of mothers state that
these factors have a very strong impact on their food and
beverage selections. However, of the respondents indicating
health factors as a strong impact on food choice, only 7%
list food additives as being a concern, and a mere 6% list
chemicals specifically. Consequently, placed in context with
other health concerns, chemicals are generally perceived as
less important than food safety issues involving microbial
risks. In fact, 12% of mothers listed chemicals as being an
issue while 51% chose microbial food safety as important.
Twenty-three percent mentioned ingredients as important
and 15% listed agricultural or production issues.
When prompted by the survey to think about chemicals,
two-thirds of the respondents said they are influenced

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weight gain, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sluggishness, and negative emotional states. Participants did refer to
some personal experiences that guided their decision making (one participant shared that she had been obese, but has
since lowered and maintained her weight.) However, their
stories involved their own families, as opposed to stories
from media or friends.
Participants in the moderate-to-high health value focus
groups more readily recognized that foods with some
chemicals could provide benefits, such as longer shelf life,
added vitamins, increased nutritional value, improved taste,
decreased cost, aesthetics, decreased risk of "spoilage," and
more pleasant aroma (All Focus Groups). The high health
value mothers from all focus groups acknowledged that
man-made additives are not all inherently detrimental, and
conversely could offer important health benefits.
Negative associations of chemicals or additives
included increased difficulty with digestion, unknown
long-term effects (particularly related to cancer), and
diminished overall health. Similar to our middle-of-theroad participants, high health value mothers related that
one aspect of most concern of added substances was "the
unknown long-term effects of health problems" (S. Focus
Group). The perception of "long-term illness" was also
discussed in relation to chemicals and food additives.
While health-savvy mothers may be confident in their
ability to select foods that will nourish and maintain
their own and their families' health in the short term,
identifying foods that will positively impact future health
seemed to be more difficult.
Participants generally recognized that they should eat
healthfully to avoid negative health outcomes. However,
specific foods, additives, and chemicals do not appear to be
foremost on their mind. Mothers discussed these issues in
generalities-and almost never mentioned specific instances
of food groups completely avoided or substances they
rigidly excluded from their diets. Perhaps more perplexing
is the frequency of responses that indicate that little
information is available to aid mothers in their decisionmaking process. Therefore, the absence of certainty
regarding chemical safety may contribute to problems
related to purchasing decisions.

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Food Protection Trends - January/February 2015

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