Food Safety Is Everywhere In The Conversation. So Why Is Consumer Confidence Ticking Up?  

(Washington, D.C.) — The International Food Information Council (IFIC) today released two new research studies that, read together, capture a paradox at the heart of how Americans think about food right now: food additive, ingredient, and chemical concerns have never been more present in the national conversation, yet overall confidence in the safety of the U.S. food supply has actually risen. The two findings aren’t contradictory so much as a sign that people are paying closer attention—forming perceptions from a shifting mix of what they hear and what they experience, and using new criteria to decide what to trust. 

The first, the 2026 IFIC Food & Health Survey: A Focus on Food & Ingredient Safety, was fielded March 22–April 8, 2026 — notably, before a summer of headlines around foodborne illness, including a high-profile Cyclospora outbreak in lettuce, alongside Salmonella and E. coli recalls. The second, an IFIC Spotlight Survey on Americans’ awareness of and response to the ongoing Cyclospora outbreak, was fielded August 12–17, 2026. Together, these new studies offer a before and after view of a public that was already paying closer attention. 

“What stands out this year isn’t alarm: it’s engagement,” said Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, MS, RDN, IFIC President and CEO. “More Americans are forming a point of view on food safety against a busy backdrop of recalls, potential regulatory actions, and confounding headlines. That’s the real shift worth paying attention to.” 

After hitting an IFIC Food & Health Survey-low of 55% in 2025, this year 62% of Americans say they are confident in the safety of the U.S. food supply — a seven-point jump that ties the largest year-over-year gain in the 15-year trend. The share who are very confident drove most of it, climbing from 11% to 16%. 

That’s the headline number. But the longer view adds nuance: the 5 and 15-year trends show confidence is still six points below its 2022 level and 16 points below the 2012 record high of 78%. And the trend line has been anything but steady in recent years, swinging from 70% in 2023 down to 55% in 2025 before landing back at 62%. 

“It would be easy to read a rebound in confidence as ‘people have stopped worrying,’ but that’s not what we’re seeing,” said Reinhardt Kapsak. “People are more engaged with food, including news about food safety, not less — and more willing to form an opinion. What’s striking in 2026 is that Americans are weighing what they hear against what they experience, and both are shaping how they define a safe, healthy food. Confidence and concern aren’t opposites here. They’re rising together.” 

Asked to rank their top three food safety issues in 2026, Americans most often named: 

Foodborne illness stands apart on one measure: it has ranked first or tied for first among Americans’ single most important food safety issue in each of the past three years. And notably, 95% of respondents ranked at least one ingredient- or chemical-related concern in their top three from nine options — a reminder of how central ingredient questions have become. 

One of the clearest signals across the IFIC Food & Health Survey is how closely Americans’ definitions of safe and healthy track one another. When asked what they rely on to judge each, respondents pointed to nearly identical cues: clear expiration or “use by” dates (48% for safety, 46% for healthfulness), the absence of harmful pathogens (35% safe, 32% healthy), the absence of chemical contaminants (31% safe, 32% healthy), and ingredients they understand and trust (31% safe, 35% healthy).  

That overlap matters. It suggests that for many Americans, safety and healthfulness have quietly merged into a single question about whether a food can be trusted — a conflation that increasingly runs through concerns about ingredients and chemicals. 

“When people evaluate the safety of an ingredient, presence often outweighs amount,” Reinhardt Kapsak added. “Among those most focused on additives and chemicals, more prioritize whether something is present than how much — 45% versus 33%. That tells us the conversation has shifted from dose to detection, and it has significant implications for how we communicate risk.” 

If the IFIC Food & Health Survey captured the baseline, the August IFIC Spotlight Survey captured what happens when a food safety story breaks into the mainstream. Awareness of the Cyclospora outbreak was remarkable. Nearly nine in ten Americans (86%) said they had heard about the cyclospora outbreak in lettuce, and attention went well beyond passive awareness. 

Awareness translated into action for many. Among those who had heard about the outbreak in lettuce, 38% talked about it in person, 32% searched for more information, and behavior shifted: 30% said they had stopped eating all lettuce, 29% stopped eating iceberg specifically, and 22% cut back on produce more broadly.  

Perhaps most telling is what would bring people back. Among lettuce eaters, comfort with eating lettuce was highest when tied to product attributes and official confirmation: 76% would feel comfortable if the lettuce were locally grown, 72% if the FDA confirmed affected product had been removed, and 71% if it were grown in the U.S. Social and marketplace cues carried less weight. Only about six in ten would be reassured by friends and family eating it (62%) or by its availability at their regular grocery store (59%). 

“During an outbreak, people don’t reach for reassurance from the people around them — they reach for origin and official confirmation,” said Tony Flood, IFIC Senior Director, Food & Ingredient Safety. “That’s a meaningful insight for anyone trying to rebuild trust. Where food comes from, and what public health authorities say about it, may do more of the heavy lifting than what’s simply on the shelf.” 

“Taken together, the two studies tell a story that resists a simple headline. Americans are more confident and more concerned, more informed and more likely to conflate safety with health. They are forming perceptions from a mix of what they hear and what they experience — and in a year defined by recalls and outbreaks, that mix is shifting in real time,” Reinhardt Kapsak said. “The takeaway is that people are paying attention, and they’re using new criteria to decide what to trust. It’s our job to meet them there, with clear, credible information.”  

View 2026 IFIC Food & Health Survey: A Focus On Food & Ingredient Safety here. 

View the Special Report-IFIC Spotlight Survey: Americans’ Awareness & Response To Cyclospora In Lettuce here. 

Interested in learning more about what consumers think about food and ingredient safety? Catch the conversation during the IFIC Expert Webinar: Food Safety Education In Focus: Supporting Informed Consumer Decisions, on Thursday, September 17 at 2pm ET. The webinar will feature insights from Tony Flood, IFIC, Brittany Saunier, MPA, Partnership for Food Safety Education and Ellen Shumaker, PhD, North Carolina State University. Each IFIC Expert Webinar is free and provides opportunities for audience questions.  

Register for the IFIC Expert Webinar here.  

2026 IFIC Food & Health Survey 

The International Food Information Council (IFIC) commissioned an online survey among U.S. and Canadian consumers to measure knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about food, nutrition, health, and the role these factors play in food decisions. Three thousand five U.S. adults (n=3005) ages 18 to 80 years completed the online survey from March 22-April 8, 2026. One thousand six Canadian adults (n=1006) ages 18 to 80 years completed the online survey from March 27-April 8, 2026. Results from each country’s sample were weighted separately to reflect their national population demographics, using the 2025 Current Population Survey for the U.S. sample and the 2021 Statistics Canada Census for the Canadian sample. Specifically, results were weighted by age, education, gender, race/ethnicity, and region.  

IFIC Spotlight Survey: Special Report: Americans’ Awareness & Response To Cyclospora In Lettuce 

The International Food Information Council (IFIC) commissioned an online survey among U.S. consumers to measure awareness and response to the recent cyclospora outbreak in lettuce. One thousand eight adults ages 18 years and older completed the online survey from August 12 to August 17, 2026, and were weighted to ensure proportional results. The Bayesian confidence level for the survey sample (n=1008) is 3.5, which is roughly equivalent to a margin of error of ±3.1 at the 95% confidence level. Callouts of statistically significant results are included where appropriate on slides displaying results. Something is statistically significant if the result cannot be attributed to random chance. Statistical significance in this report is only compared within each demographic group (e.g. age, race, gender, etc.). ​​