Greeks are going off their food
Greeks are growing increasingly concerned about the safety and quality of food that they eat in the wake of rotten goods being discovered on supermarket shelves and in warehouses in recent months, according to a survey conducted for Kathimerini. Six in 10 Greeks said that they are concerned about what they are eating and what they are giving their children to eat, according to the TNSicap survey carried out during October and November this year. This means that the quality and safety of food is the third-biggest concern for Greeks, according to the poll. It is the first time nutritional matters have ranked so high in this kind of survey. The issue does not only concern parents. The poll indicated that 52 percent of 15- to 24-year-olds are also worried about the safety of their food. Consumer fears are only compounded by the lack of information or misleading details provided by food companies, the Greek Quality of Life Consumer Union (EKPOIZO) suggested yesterday after a study of its own on product labeling. «The information given to consumers who read food labels is not clear and is misleading in many cases,» Elena Alevritou, president of EKPOIZO, told Kathimerini. She added that the union had found that some products had vitamin quantities of up to three times more than claimed on the labels. Alevritou said this could be dangerous in some cases. Despite growing anxiety about the quality of food, finding and keeping a job remains the top concern for Greeks. Three-quarters of the 1,000 respondents to the TNSicap survey said that they were most worried about unemployment and their jobs. The quality of healthcare was the next biggest worry, with 63 percent of those questioned saying they were concerned by it. Though consumers seem worried about the quality of the food they buy, they do not appear to object so much to its cost. The survey found, somewhat surprisingly, that the high cost of living was only ninth on the list of concerns, with a third of respondents saying they were worried by it.
