Food+Safety+Poll

· Eighty-nine percent of Americans support more aggressive food safety regulation, according to a poll commissioned by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The findings could place added pressure on Congress as it considers whether to make food safety reform a top legislative priority in 2009. · 89 percent of voters support broad reform of the food safety net, “including 61% who strongly support this.” · The poll also probed respondents for their views on specific policy ideas. At least 90 percent voiced support for better systems for tracking food through the supply chain, more frequent government inspections of food facilities, and stronger regulation of imported food. · Americans would continue to support increased regulation and inspections even if it meant higher grocery bills, according to the Pew poll. "72% say it would be worth it to pay between 3% and 5% more in grocery costs to have these new safety measures—this is true among lower-income (77% worth it), middle-income (74%), and higher-income voters (69%)." · Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies conducted the poll. The pollsters surveyed 1,005 registered voters between June 29 and July 3. The results carry a 3.1 percent margin of error. The survey conducted by Hart Research and Public Opinion Strategies, involved 1,005 "likely" voters. 
 * SUMMARY **
 * * 89 percent support enacting new federal measures to better protect people from getting sick from eating contaminated food products.
 * * 83 percent believe the federal government should be responsible for ensuring that food is safe to eat
 * * 64 percent believe imported foods are often or sometimes unsafe
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">* 58 percent are worried about bacterial contamination of the food supply