GUELPH, Ont. -
Some consumers have changed their eating habits after the listeriosis outbreak associated with ready-to-eat meat last summer, according to a new survey by University of Guelph researchers.
Some consumers have changed their eating habits after the listeriosis outbreak associated with ready-to-eat meat last summer, according to a new survey by University of Guelph researchers.
Some consumers have changed their eating habits after the listeriosis outbreak associated with ready-to-eat meat last summer, according to a new survey by University of Guelph researchers.
They used a panel of 2,000 people in the Guelph area to examine how attitudes might have changed.
Before the outbreak, only six per cent of those surveyed said they never consumed ready-to-eat meats at home. But that jumped to 39 per cent after the outbreak.
And the percentage of people who said they never eat ready-to-eat meat products at fast-food outlets or restaurants jumped to 56 per cent from nine per cent.
"Before the food recall, consumers did not consider the potential risks of ready-to-eat meats to be significant," said Prof. John Cranfield of the Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics.
The researchers suggest the results could be extrapolated to the general population of Canada.
"It provides a snapshot of a city that is representative of Canada," Cranfield said.
Despite the shift, most of those surveyed remained confident in the safety of Canada's food system.
About 70 per cent of respondents said their perception of the safety of meat in general, of food products and of food as a whole hadn't changed.
And 75 per cent said they still consider ready-to-eat meats safe to eat.
Last summer's listeriosis outbreak was traced to a Maple Leaf Foods processing plant in Toronto. Twenty deaths were linked to the outbreak.
