Findings from November this past year show 45 percent of respondents had concern about food safety in U.K. restaurants, pubs, cafes and takeaways and 40 percent were concerned about it in shops and supermarkets.

This compares to results in May 2019 when 41 percent of people were concerned about food safety in U.K. restaurants, pubs, cafes and takeaways and 37 percent had concerns about this topic in shops and supermarkets.

The public attitudes tracker survey monitors changes in attitudes to food related issues and includes England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A representative sample of 2,101 adults in these countries were interviewed face-to-face in November. The methodology of the survey will be changing in the future with an increased sample in Wales and Northern Ireland.

Top food safety issues for those surveyed were chemicals from the environment, such as lead, in food, food hygiene when eating out, use of pesticides to grow food and food poisoning. Other topics of concern were hormones, steroids and antibiotics in food, Genetically Modified (GM) foods and food not being what the label says it is.