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Eurobarometer findings on food safety show Albanians focus on nutrient content
12 March 2020
Recent findings by an Eurobarometer survey show Albanians are more interested in nutrient content of food than their EU counterparts but have a lower personal interest in food safety than EU citizens.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published its Eurobarometer findings based on a survey of consumer attitudes, including insights into awareness and risk perceptions when it comes to food safety. The survey was carried out in all EU member states as well as five pre-accession states, including Albania.
A total of 1,046 interviews were carried out in Albania in November 2019. The survey was divided into two parts: citizens’ interest in food safety as well as awareness and risk perceptions.
Results showed 18 percent of Albanian citizens surveyed are personally interested in the topic of food safety compared to 41 percent of EU citizens.
The results also show that nutrient content (the amount of vitamins, proteins, sugar or fats) is the most important fact for Albanian consumers (63 percent), followed closely by food safety risks related to eating certain foods (58 percent). While for EU citizens where the food comes from (53 percent) and food cost (51 percent) are the most important indicators for buying food.
Media outlets -- television, newspapers and magazines -- are seen as the main sources of information for both EU (69 percent) and Albanian citizens (61 percent).
Compared to 22 percent of EU citizens surveyed, 48 percent of Albanian citizens see safety as the main concern when choosing food.
Survey results also show that when it comes to perceptions on harmful substances in food, 46 percent of Albanian citizens look out for products with harmful substances, which is in line with perceptions of EU citizens (43 percent).
In Albania, there appears to be a lack of information on certain topics such as food additives (AL 38 percent vs. EU 72 percent), food hygiene (AL 19 percent vs. EU 68 percent), pesticide residues in food (AL 30 percent vs. EU 65 percent), allergic reactions to food or drinks (AL 9 percent vs. EU 65 percent) and animal diseases (AL 19 percent vs. EU 65 percent), compared to information available to EU citizens.
Antibiotic, hormone or steroid residues in meat is the topic that is of most concern to EU citizens when it comes to food (44 percent), while Albanian consumers seem more concerned about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food (41 percent) and additives like colours, preservatives or flavourings used in food or drinks (34 percent).
When asked to what extent certain information sources are trusted by Albanian citizens, those surveyed indicated they have trust in information on food risks from EU institutions (79 percent), while 56 percent said they trust information from national authorities.
The full details of the survey are available through this link: