To help policy makers understand what motivates people in their choice of food, the Institute of European Food Studies questioned about 14 500 consumers from the EU member states on their attitudes, beliefs and practices relating to food and health. This article, the first in a series examining the results of the IEFS survey, focuses on what people believe are the main determinants of their eating habits and their attitude to 'healthy eating'.

Quality main influence

Without exception, for all countries studied, quality was identified as the main criteria for food selection. Member states were then split between taste or price as to which were the second and third most important criteria. For example Greece, Luxembourg and Ireland ranked taste over price, whilst the reverse was the case for Finland, Germany and Spain. About a third of those interviewed rated trying to eat healthily as one of their top three influences on eating habits. Health was a greater consideration in some countries like Austria and Denmark, where it was listed by half the respondents, and less important in others, for example France and Italy, where it was mentioned by only a quarter of respondents. Family constraints, or what a partner and children within the family will eat, followed closely behind health as the fifth overall determinant of food choice. Again this varied between countries, with people from Greece, Ireland and Italy ranking it third (after quality and taste). Slimming, additives, presentation/ packaging, vegetarianism, ethnic background and availability of food, were found to be less important to people.

Uptake of dietary advice

In order to assess the influence of existing dietary guidelines, EU residents were asked a series of questions and then classified into groups.

• Almost half the people studied were happy with their diets as they were and had not made any dietary changes or given healthy eating a thought.
• Just under a third had made dietary changes, which they believed were healthy and had maintained them.
• A tenth were contemplating or currently attempting to change their eating habits.
• A small minority had made dietary changes but had now given them up.

The vast majority of people surveyed (71 %) believed they do not need to make any further changes to their eating habits, because they are healthy enough. Healthy dietary changes as perceived by consumers are not always in line with current dietary advice.

IEFS Director Professor Michael Gibney commented, "the survey shows a wide variation in attitudes and beliefs between countries. This makes any centralised nutrition education programmes difficult to formulate and implement. It is likely that it will be necessary to devise local strategies focused at specific groups of people."

FOOD TODAY 06/1998