The UK public trust farmers more than the government to ensure food is safe, a new poll has found.

The independent research body NatCen’s British Social Attitudes survey uncovers for the first time who the British public trust when it comes to the food supply chain.

Farmers proved the second most trustworthy, with 58% of respondents saying they trust farmers, compared with just 33% trusting the government “a great deal” or “quite a lot”, with a similar number saying they trusted supermarkets.

Just under 30% said they do not trust the government “very much” or “at all”, while 26% said this about supermarkets.

The most trusted group proved to be food inspectors, with 68% of people saying they trust food inspectors “a great deal” or “quite a lot” to make sure food is safe to eat.

The proportion who said they did not trust these farmers or food inspectors “very much” or “at all” was just 7% and 9% respectively.

Price for the farmer

Some 58% of participants also said it matters that the farmer or grower has been paid a fair price, while 68% said that it was important that food has not gone through a lot of processing.

Just 35% thought it mattered that the food was grown locally, with women and older people were more likely to say these issues mattered to them.

When choosing what food to buy, health matters more than having low-cost food. 83% said that it matters “a great deal” or “quite a lot” that the food they buy is healthy, but less than half (47%) said that it matters that the cost of their food is low.

Origin and cost

The survey also revealed that just over half of people (58%) were sure that food from Britain was prepared to the highest quality standards. Less than a quarter (23%) who thought this about food from abroad.

Commenting on the report, Caireen Roberts, research director at NatCen Social Research, said the report shows considerations around the origin and cost is not as important to consumers as healthiness of food.

“While confidence in the quality of food produced in Britain was just over 50%, it was higher than levels of confidence in imported food and we also saw low levels of trust in the government, supermarkets and food manufacturers.

“This may be because these organisations are viewed as being motivated by profit either directly or indirectly or it may be the result of previous food scares. Further research will be needed to see whether the public’s attitudes change over the coming years.”