Pints of view: what do consumers think about health, provenance and the environment? Richard Ford reveals the findings of an exclusive new Dairy Council survey

Grocer, Sept 13, 2008 by Richard Ford

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Modern shoppers have a lot to think about when in the dairy aisle of a supermarket. Are these products healthy? Is it okay to give them to my children? Am I allergic? Have the cows been well treated? These concerns were among the key issues examined by The Dairy Council in a major new consumer survey.

Health

The survey paints a fascinating picture of consumer attitudes towards health, provenance and the environment.

One of the most significant findings is that 77% of respondents see dairy products as healthy--a figure almost unchanged from last year's 78%. This suggests the dairy sector has been largely successful in mitigating any damage done to its reputation by the Food Standards Agency's Nutrient Profiling Model over the past couple of years. However, the category has not emerged totally unscathed.

The number of respondents who believe butter is healthy has slipped six percentage points to 31%. Cheese's reputation has also suffered, with 49% of people believing it is healthy compared with 53% last year--something Dr Judith Bryans, director of The Dairy Council, attributes to negative media coverage over the past year. To combat this, she argues, the industry needs to pull together and educate people in the positives cheese has to offer. "It's unfortunate that not as many believe cheese is as healthy as milk or yoghurt, since cheese provides a host of positive nutrients," she says.

The number of respondents who agree dairy products are good for children remains the same as last year, at 88%. When, in April 2007, Ofcom introduced restrictions over the advertising to children of HFSS foods, no-one knew what the impact on the public's perception of dairy in children's diets would be. So far, it doesn't appear to have been adversely affected.

Allergies

According to the survey, dairy products remain the most common source of food allergies by some margin, although there has been a slight decline from last year in the percentage of respondents who claim to have a dairy allergy.

Just under 55% of the people claiming to have a food allergy have actually been medically diagnosed as having one. While this is higher than last year's 46%, the large number of undiagnosed "allergies" hints at public paranoia over the subject.

"These findings indicate that many more people may believe they have lactose intolerance, or cows milk allergy, than actually have these conditions," Bryans says. "This means they could be unnecessarily avoiding these products and missing out on essential nutrients."

Purchasing and consumption

Fresh milk and cheese continue to lead the way in dairy purchasing and consumption, with little change in the percentage of people who consume the products. Fresh milk purchases increased slightly, but cheese grew more significantly.

The success story of this year appears to be cream. Some 65% of respondents say they eat cream on a regular basis, compared with last year's 50%. One theory about this is the trend towards more cooking from scratch, and staying in and cooking instead of going out, boosting the use of raw ingredients such as cream.

Ice cream and long-life milk have experienced similarly impressive rises, as has "other milk", which includes milk powder, condensed milk, and evaporated milk. This category has recorded increases of more than 10 percentage points in those who purchase them normally. Yoghurt continues to be favoured by females, with 89% of women eating it compared with only 75% of men.

Animal welfare

The public appears to be giving the dairy industry an enthusiastic thumbs up on animal welfare, with three quarters of people believing UK dairy farmers do a good job looking after their animals.

Initiatives such as Ben & Jerry's Caring Dairy scheme, and the Contented Cow Company's approach to farming, have improved perceptions of animal welfare standards in the industry.

The public derives much of its understanding of animal welfare issues from news, be it newspapers or TV. By contrast, they get information on healthy eating from a broader variety of resources, including non-news related TV programmes and magazines, although common sense and food labels are also seen as important sources of information.

Environmental issues

Some 50% of respondents said they thought about the environmental impact of the food they bought, but only 47% said they would avoid purchasing products that they believe had a high environmental impact.

For dairy products, in particular, avoidance figures were lower still--only 35% of respondents would buy fewer dairy products if they had a high environmental impact. This suggests environmental initiatives should be producer and retailer-led and that consumers are not prepared to vote with their wallet. However, more than 60% said they would like more information about carbon footprints, a view particularly strong among women looking after a family. Those aged 45-54 and the retired were most concerned about environmental issues.

A relatively low 28% of people felt dairy farmers could do more to reduce their environmental impact, although 37% of people were unsure how dairy farmers could do this. But it appears there is strong support for the survival of the dairy farming community, as about 9o% of those questioned said grazing dairy cows and hedgerows were important features of the English countryside.