Quality/safety stew.

Concerns about food are especially convoluted right now. Almost all (99%) of our shoppers say they are concerned about food quality, and quality concerns have become inseparable from concerns about safety and health. Green, organic, safe, quality, healthy, and gourmet are all part of the stew. Many consumers have heard enough news about safety breakdowns, lax regulations, China imports, and questionable organic label credibility to be convinced that food quality isn't as good as they thought it was and think it should be. At the same time, they are concerned about prices of organic as well as traditional foods, and fresh as well as processed. One of our shoppers writes: "Without labeling where it's from, we don't know if some of our food is coming from China along with our toys and clothes. And that could be really awful."

As that comment suggests, most of our shoppers don't know that foods other than shrimp have been imported from China to the U.S. Media stories about the lead problems with toys made in China reached many more consumers than stories about fish and seafood imports, but the heightened level of concern is easy to understand, as is the report that a "China-free" label increased supplement sales fourfold. A Consumer Reports poll found 92% of its readers in favor of mandated labels. Among our smaller but broader cross section of shoppers, the percent is lower, but the concern is still up there.

The breadth of current concern about food quality is also attributable to the widespread weather problems that led to winter disappointments with citrus and summer disappointments with stone fruits. "To get quality food, you have to go to Whole Foods or one of the really good steak houses." Steak restaurants and Whole Foods are major beneficiaries of the feeling that quality food is the exception rather than the rule in today's marketplace. In response, food brands are seeking ways to increase the quality perceptions of their major products.

Our high numbers on current concern about food quality and safety seem to be in conflict with the numbers in this year's FMI Grocery Shopper Trends, which reported that "66% of consumers describe themselves as 'completely' or 'somewhat' confident in the safety of supermarket food." We don't know how that breaks down between completely and somewhat: Being only "somewhat confident" is a lot less than being "completely confident." If the completely/somewhat split in FMI's numbers was 50/50, only 33% were completely confident and 67% who were less than completely confident, and our concern numbers are not so different.

Organic percentages in both of the tables on the following page are underscored by the fast growth and broad acceptance of store brand organics. Consumers who are frustrated by the high prices of organics and the conflicting reports on organic label credibility feel that they might as well buy the store brand.

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