Special Eurobarometer 238: Risk Issues

The Directorate-General Health and Consumer Protection and the European Food Safety Authority commissioned a survey to assess how people in the EU perceive risk, focusing in particular on food safety, an area of shared interest. Such research enables
policy-makers to interact with the public and contributes to the development of policy initiatives and communications in relation to risk issues.
The survey was conducted in the twenty-five Member States of the European Union by way of face-to-face interviews in peoples' homes in their national language between September 2 and October 6, 2005.
First of all, the report shall examine general risk perceptions before turning to the risks
associated with food; In the second chapter, it analyses the public’s perception of public authorities’ role and actions, notably with respect to food safety; In the final chapter, it looks at people’s exposure to media coverage and examines which sources are most trusted when it comes to informing the public about food risks.
MAIN FINDINGS
The survey on risk issues reveals that when presented with a list of possible risks, environmental pollution and car accidents are those which the largest proportion of the population (61% and 51% respectively) considers likely to affect them personally.
However, more than 40% of people also think that their health could be damaged by the food they eat or by other consumer goods.
Nonetheless, the thought of food generally has positive connotations for Europeans. They associate it first and foremost with taste and pleasure while, when purchasing food, they are more guided by the quality and price of food than by health and food safety concerns. The association of food with health is only made by one person in five.

The results by volumes are distributed as follows:

• Volume A: Countries
• Volume AA: Groups of countries
• Volume A' (AP): Trends
• Volume AA' (AAP): Trends of groups of countries
• Volume B: EU/socio-demographics
• Volume B' (BP) : Trends of EU/ socio-demographics
• Volume C: Country/socio-demographics

Researchers may also contact GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences: https://www.gesis.org/eurobarometer