FSA quarterly public attitudes tracking research

Tuesday 27 June 2006

This paper summarises the results from the March wave of the Quarterly Public Attitudes Tracking research commissioned by the FSA.

In order to fulfil the Agency's core objective of putting the consumer first, the Agency must understand public attitudes and perceptions towards the areas of its work. This research provides the Agency with information about public attitudes towards food safety and food standards on a quarterly basis.

The Agency commissions an annual Consumer Attitudes Survey among a representative sample of 3,000 UK adults. The results of this are published in February each year.

However, in order to track changes in key measures, a more frequent and smaller survey is also commissioned. Since June 2001, the Agency has placed half a dozen questions onto an omnibus survey run on a quarterly basis (in March, June, September & December) by TNS, an independent market research agency. This survey interviews a representative sample of 2,000 GB adults in Great Britain.

This methodology is flexible enough to allow additional questions to be added at times of business need. For example in the past year, questions have been added to measure public attitudes towards avian flu and Sudan 1.