世論 What Japan Thinks

Food safety is a big topic here in Japan, with the memory of poison gyoza fresh in many people’s mind, and raw vegetables from China in particular shunned by many consumers. To see what exactly is happening, Nippon Research Center recently conducted a survey into food safety issues.

Demographics

Between the 2nd and 14th of April 2008 1,200 people were randomly chosen based on the population distribution from the 2005 census data. 200 sample points were chosen and from each point 6 people agreed to face-to-face interviews. 50.4% of the sample were female, 6.2% in their teens, 15.1% in their twenties, 17.9% in their thirties, 15.3% in their forties, 18.4% in their fifties, 15.9% in their sixties, and 11.2% in their seventies.

I’d like to say a quick hello to any readers who might have joined me from Slashfood, who have been kind enough to cover a couple of articles from me in the last few weeks. This one is just to show I do serious food topics too!

Not surprisingly, China’s image is horrendous, but there is one particular Chinese export that people do not seem to mind, or at least don’t think about it when purchasing. That product is Oolong and other teas, and one new tea in particular, Suntory’s Black Oolong Tea, advertised as one product that canhelp in the fight against metabolic syndrome, has in the two years since launch sold round about 75 billion yen’s worth (around 750 million US dollars) of tea according to a television programme I saw at the weekend, representing close to half a billion 350 ml bottles! Its adverts unashamedly features subtitled Chinese actors eating Chinese food. Click through to view the television commercials.

Research results

Q1: When purchasing fresh foodstuffs, what points do you pay attention to? (Sample size=1,200, multiple answer)

Price	78.8%
Freshness	77.1%
Sell-by date	72.5%
Country of origin	71.8%
Prefecture of origin	59.8%
Colour, feel	54.3%
Whether they are in season	34.1%
Whether they are GM foods	31.8%
Whether they are organic	29.9%

Every category has seen a rise in awareness since November of last year when a similar survey took place. Women were also more concerned than men.

Q2: When purchasing prepared foodstuffs, what points do you pay attention to? (Sample size=1,200, multiple answer)

Sell-by date	76.8%
Country of origin	74.8%
Price	69.8%
Prefecture of origin	54.3%
Freshness	49.7%
Whether they have additives	35.0%
Colour, feel	31.8%
Whether they are GM foods	31.2%
Whether they are organic	25.1%
Calories	19.3%

As with Q1, every category has seen a rise in awareness since November of last year when a similar survey took place. Women were also more concerned than men.

Q3: When purchasing fresh food products from the following countries or regions, do you feel discomfort about the safety of them? (Sample size=1,200, multiple answer)

	No discomfort	A little discomfort	A lot of discomfort	Don’t know
Japan	68.4%	27.6%	1.1%	2.9%
Australia, New Zealand	20.8%	52.4%	11.7%	15.1%
European Union	20.3%	49.0%	10.3%	20.4%
USA	6.2%	56.4%	27.3%	10.2%
South Korea	4.9%	38.0%	46.4%	10.7%
Thailand, Vietnam	2.3%	35.9%	47.4%	14.5%
China	0.3%	5.8%	91.0%	3.0%

Q4: When purchasing prepared food products from the following countries or regions, do you feel discomfort about the safety of them? (Sample size=1,200, multiple answer)

	No discomfort	A little discomfort	A lot of discomfort	Don’t know
Japan	57.6%	37.7%	1.3%	3.6%
European Union	17.0%	50.0%	12.9%	20.1%
Australia, New Zealand	15.9%	52.3%	15.3%	16.4%
USA	6.5%	53.5%	27.3%	12.7%
South Korea	4.1%	36.6%	47.5%	11.9%
Thailand, Vietnam	2.5%	33.0%	48.0%	16.5%
China	0.3%	5.8%	90.1%	3.9%

Q5: As a result of the contaminated frozen Chinese gyoza, how has your overall opinion of Chinese products changed? (Sample size=1,200)

	All	Male N=595	Female N=605
Trustworthiness has decreased	60.8%	59.3%	62.3%
Trustworthiness is as low as before	33.2%	33.9%	32.4%
Trustworthiness is as high as before	1.1%	0.3%	1.8%
Don’t know	4.9%	6.4%	3.4%

There was also very little variation in trust by age.