The share of European citizens who say they are aware of the workings of the EU food safety system has jumped by 6% points since 2022, whilst their familiarity with a wide range of food safety issues has steadily grown.
These findings and a wealth of additional results on what drives food choices in Europe are available in the new “2025 Eurobarometer Survey on Food Safety in the EU”.
EFSA conducts the survey every three years, which this year includes both the 27 EU Member States and the seven EU Candidate Countries at the same time.
EFSA’s Executive Director Nikolaus Kriz said: "The new figures on citizens’ awareness of EU food safety are hugely encouraging for EFSA and our many partners across Europe."
“We will continue to join forces with the European Commission and our national partners to communicate to citizens about how the food safety system benefits them.”
In 2019, the EU introduced new rules on transparency, data accessibility and risk communication, amongst which was a call to improve consumer understanding of how food safety decisions are reached, including the relevance of scientific evaluations.
Factors influencing food choices
Some seven in ten Europeans say they are personally interested in food safety and that food safety comes third (46%) behind cost (60%) and taste (51%) amongst the factors influencing their food choices.
The relevance of cost has increased by an additional six percentage points (pp) since 2022 and was the top factor in 20 EU Member States, underlying the ongoing strains on many people in Europe to make ends meet.
Taking food safety for granted?
The most common reason for not following food safety information is taking it for granted that the food sold is safe, as stated by four in ten (41%) Europeans, followed by knowing enough to avoid or mitigate food risks (30%).
Barbara Gallani, Head of Communication and Partnerships at EFSA, said: "It is positive that so many people in the EU have confidence in the safety of their food."
"At the same time, we and our partners need to keep underlining that food safety is a shared responsibility."
"Consumers have an important role to play, for example, in relation to food hygiene, food preparation and following healthy and varied diets."
Top food safety issues
Increasing numbers of Europeans have heard about the 15 specific food safety topics they were asked about.
The most familiar ones remain food additives (71%) and pesticides (67%) in line with previous survey results, but notable increases were seen in awareness of animal diseases, microplastics in food and food poisoning.
The top concerns for consumers amongst these issues remain pesticides (39%), antibiotics/hormones/steroids in meat (36%) and food additives (35%), albeit their respective shares have fallen slightly since 2022.
Concern about microplastics in food saw the sharpest rise in focus, with 33% of respondents, marking a four percentage point increase since the last survey.
The Eurobarometer survey results reported above are for the average amongst the 27 EU Member States.
In many of these categories, there are significant differences across countries and between socio-demographic categories (e.g. age groups, level of education, household income).
Key findings from the 2025 Eurobarometer on food safety include the following:
- Awareness: seventy-nine per cent of EU citizens believe food regulations ensure safety (+6pp since 2022). Trust in scientific advice also rose, with 76% saying the EU relies on experts (+6pp) and 71% recognising EU-national authority cooperation (+6pp)
- Priorities: fourty-one per cent balance healthy diets and food risks (-5pp), 34% prioritise diet (+3pp), 23% food risks (+2pp)
- Health impacts: most link animal (53%) and environmental issues (51%) to human health, though perceptions of environmental/plant issues shifted from strong to moderate impact
- Trusted sources: doctors remain most trusted (90%), followed by scientists (84%), consumer groups (82%) and farmers (82%). Trust in authorities has edged up (national 70%, EU 69%)
- Information: TV is still the top channel (55%, -6pp), but reliance on social exchanges (42%), search engines (38%) and social media (25%, +4pp) is growing.