The survey was commissioned by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and carried out by opinion research institute Forsa in October 2016. It interviewed more than 1000 people aged over 14 years.
Food and agriculture minister Christian Schmidt said at the launch last week: "The report is, as it were, a mirror of our society, showing how food, shopping and cooking are integrated into the modern day of work and life, and that eating is more than mere food intake. [It is] for home and health as well as for the rising expectations and requirements for sustainable and responsible food production.”
Schmidt has been keen to establish nutrition education in schools, something a majority of respondents support. Nearly nine out of 10 said the principles of a healthy diet must be taught in primary school.
Animal welfare was another issue ranked highly. In the 2016 survey, 36% said they looked for logos indicating high animal welfare standards but this has since risen to 47% – “a notable increase [which] shows the importance of the issue to consumers", said Schmidt, who has been pushing for a voluntary, state animal welfare logo.
The BMEL survey found 79% of interviewees in favour of such a government logo, saying consumers currently lack guidance on this issue. Details of this are expected to be announced at the Green Week trade show held in Berlin later this month.
The vast majority (88%) said they would be willing to spend more for food that has been produced to high animal welfare standards.
Healthy eating
Almost one fifth of respondents (19%) said they frequently purchased ‘light’ products such as sugar-free, reduced fat or low-calorie offerings, with slightly more women than men (21% compared with 18%) buying such products. This rose to nearly a quarter (24%) of 14 to 19-year-olds.
Significantly more women than men said they eat fruit and vegetables on a daily basis – 85% compared with 66% - while almost three times as many men drink soft drinks
every day (16% of men against 6% of women). This marks a small decrease for women on last year when 10% said they drank soft drinks daily.
The survey also revealed a significant gap between intentions and actions. More than three quarters (77%) said they enjoy cooking – a passion shared across age groups and demographics – but only 41% actually cook on a daily basis.
Men eat meat twice as often as women with 47% of men tucking into schnitzel and sausages every day compared with 22% of female respondents. Only 3% of overall respondents said they are vegetarian but the number of people reducing meat consumption is on the rise and more people are willing to splash out on ethical meat.
Schmidt recently made headlines as he called for a ban on vegetarian meat alternatives using terms that refer to traditional meat products, such as sausage or wurst.
The full report, BMEL Nutritional Report 2017: Germany as it eats, can be downloaded here (in German).