For the first time in at least a decade, the number of consumers who said taste drives their purchasing decisions topped 90 percent. Price, at 73 percent, remained the second most cited factor, but healthfulness, at 71 percent, narrowed the gap. In 2012, 61 percent of consumers said healthfulness was a factor, a figure that climbed to 64 percent in 2013.
Fewer consumers pointed to convenience as a driving force in this year’s survey, dropping to 51 percent from 56 percent in 2013. Thirty-eight per cent said sustainability was an influencer, up from 36 percent in 2013, the survey said.
Certain subpopulations saw greater relative increases than others, with the per cent of consumers aged 18 to 34 citing healthfulness as a driver in food and beverage purchases jumping to 66 percent in 2014 from 55 percent in 2013. Meanwhile, the number of men citing healthfulness increased to 65 percent from 56 percent, which compared with an increase of 4 percentage points, to 76 percent from 72 percent, for women during the same period.
“While people’s attitudes about healthfulness in their food and beverage purchases and consumption alone don’t necessarily mean we are a healthier country today than we were a year or two ago, it could signal that we are moving in the right direction,” said Marianne Smith Edge, senior vice president for nutrition and food safety at the International Food Information Council Foundation. “If perceptions translate into actions, the impact on the health and wellness of our nation could be significant and long-lasting.”
Eating more fruits and vegetables, cutting calories by drinking water, low and no calorie beverages, and eating more foods with whole grains topped the list of ways Americans said they are attempting to improve the healthfulness of their diets.
Nearly nine out of 10 consumers said they have given some thought to the ingredients in their foods and beverages in the past year, but the number of consumers giving “a lot” of thought slipped in 2014 to 43 percent, down from 47 percent in 2013 and 49 percent in 2012. The number of consumers giving no thought to ingredients jumped to 12 percent, up from 7 percent in 2013 and compared with 9 percent in 2012.
When they do think about ingredients, 70 percent of consumers said they consider calories when making a purchase, down from 72 percent in 2013. Sixty-two per cent cited both sodium/salt and whole grains, which compared with 69 percent of consumers who considered such food components in 2013.
Added sugars remained the food component consumers most often try to avoid, at 51 percent, followed by trans fats (49 percent), high-fructose corn syrup (48 percent) and saturated fats (47 percent). Only 13 percent of consumers surveyed said they are trying to avoid gluten, an area that has generated a number of product innovations over the past few years.
More than a third of consumers said they regularly buy food that is labeled as “natural” (37 percent) or “local” (35 percent), with 32 percent who regularly buy products advertised as “organic,” the survey said.
Regarding food safety, 66 percent of consumers said they are “very confident” or “somewhat confident” in the safety of the US food supply, down from 70 percent in 2013 and well off from 78 percent in 2012. But the percentage of consumers “not at all” confident in the US food supply decreased, to 5 percent in 2014 from 6 percent in 2013.
The survey was conducted on-line from March 26 to April 7 and involved 1,005 consumers, whose ages ranged from 18 to 80. Results were weighted to match US Census data based on age, education, race and ethnicity and region.
To read the full report, go to foodinsight.org.
