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MSU Food Literacy Engagement Poll continues to capture disconnect

A recent national survey continues to find a vast disconnect between consumers passionate about food and their knowledge of its production.

“We love what we eat, but maybe we could focus a little more on how that food gets to our plate.”

Sheril Kirshenbaum, co-director of Michigan State University’s Food Literacy Engagement Poll, tells Brownfield in their latest survey more than 40 percent of consumers said they never or rarely seek information about where their food was grown or how it was produced.  At the same time, more than half said sustainability is important to their food purchasing decisions.  But, “People aren’t necessarily aware of what steps in the process are most impactful in terms of having a climate impact,” she says.

Consumers also continue to search for food labels including “natural” and “clean” which Kirshenbaum says don’t have a significant meaning.

“There is a lot of attention to terms like “local” which can be great from the economic standpoint for local businesses, but when it comes to things like “natural” arsenic occurs naturally, but that’s not something that we necessarily want to be eating,” she explains.

Since 2018, the survey has found a significant shift in consumer willingness to purchase artificially produced foods as a replacement for meat, from 33 to 41 percent of participants.

“That is a huge jump,” she says.  “We also see big differences in age, the youngest Americans—Gen Z, millennials, even the earlier set of Gen X—are far more likely to express interest in plant-based and cell-cultured meats.”

She says the survey this spring also found nearly 90 percent of Americans are taking steps to reduce food waste.

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