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Americans divided politically on food issues too

Politics can divide people on any subject, including food. The International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation recently released its 2016 Food & Health Survey which looked at how consumers differ in their attitudes about food issues.

Liz Sanders, Associate Director of Nutrition and Food Safety for the Foundation, says the survey showed a marked difference between liberals and conservatives.

“We found that liberals were more likely than conservatives to trust U.S. government agencies both when it comes to types of food you should eat, and the safety of food ingredients you should eat.” said Sanders.

Sanders says the differences didn’t stop with the food itself or how it is prepared but how food is produced. She said both liberals and conservatives agreed that food sustainability is important, but differed on how they define sustainability.

“For example, liberals were more likely to be concerned about preserving the natural habitat, or lower carbon footprint, or recyclable packaging, while conservatives were more likely to think that conserving an affordable food supply and conserving farmland over multiple generations were the most important aspects of sustainability.” said Sanders.

Sanders says the foundation conducted the survey to see how American’s think about their food and food production and to see what influences their perceptions of food production. The results were from an online survey of more than one thousand adult Americans in mid-March.