Consumers fear the impact of trade deals on UK food

43 per cent of people fear that new trade deals will reduce the standards of food in the UK and drive down standards.

The U.S. and India – both countries the government is seeking trade deals with – have very low levels of trust in their food. Just 29 per cent and 18 per cent of consumers trust food that originates in those countries respectively.

At the other end of the spectrum, Ireland and New Zealand are the most trusted countries for imported food among survey respondents, followed by many European and Nordic countries, such as Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, and Germany. The Index found that 58 per cent of consumers look at the country of origin before buying a product.

Outside of the UK, our closest neighbour, Ireland, remains top of the list for beef, chicken, pork, and dairy products.  

New Zealand bucks this trend on one single product – lamb – due to its reputation for producing a high-quality product.

The U.S. fares very poorly on imported food. There is also very little appetite for produce from India, where we have not previously seen a vast number of food imports.