Germans more concerned about environment than food safety

Germans see environmental issues as more of a risk to their health than food, according to a new survey from the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR).

The institute assesses the health risks of food and consumer goods on the basis of scientific criteria.

The survey was conducted in the spring as the second assessment of Germans’ familiarity with and opinion of the work of the BfR. One thousand representatively selected citizens were interviewed alongside 400 experts from science, politics, industry, consumer associations and the media.

The results of the survey suggest that people in Germany see food as the second biggest risk overall to their health, followed by the service of the healthcare system and the associated costs.

The expert representatives saw food as less of a health threat than the general population, citing an unhealthy lifestyle and pollution, climate change and radiation as more important issues.

Both groups questioned saw cardiovascular disease as the least serious threat to their health, even though it is the most frequent cause of death in Germany.

BfR awareness

The survey followed up an original study in 2004.

The BfR revealed that it has become much better known amongst both groups since 2004, with 79 per cent of the non-experts saying that they knew the institute was involved in food safety and the risk assessment of products. Half of the experts were familiar with its work.

“The results are positive,” said BfR president Andreas Hensel. “We have considerably improved familiarity with our institution amongst our target groups. We are also far better known amongst the population at large than was the case in the first survey four years ago. Furthermore, our work is rated as good by both experts and lay persons.”

The most informed group represented business and consumer associations. The group that felt it was least aware of the BfR’s work was the media.