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CUHK Releases Survey Findings on Public’s Views on Substandard Lard Scandal and Food Safety
A telephone survey was conducted from 22 to 24 September by the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong to study the public’s views on the substandard lard scandal and food safety. 776 respondents aged 18 or above were successfully interviewed, with a response rate of 44.6%. The sampling error is + or –3.52% at a confidence level of 95%.
Major findings are summarized as follows:
In the current survey, the respondents were asked the likelihood that they had consumed any food made of substandard lard. While nearly two-fifth of the 776 respondents estimated a very high chance (38.5%), 29.3% and 24.4% said a high and a small chance respectively. 3.2% reported having no chance of consuming substandard lard. Among those who believed that they had consumed substandard lard, more than two-fifth (43.3%) felt worried about its effect on their health, 22.9% was not worried, and 33.0% said “in-between”.
They were also asked if they trusted food safety in Hong Kong. Over half (56.1%) showed trust, 6.7% expressed distrust, and 36.7% indicated “in-between”. Also, a quarter of the 776 respondents (25.7%) estimated that food safety problem inHong Kongwould become more serious in the next few years. 14.2% believed the opposite and 54.5% said it would stay at a similar level.
Most of the respondents (89.8%) supported the government to strengthen laws governing edible oil. Only 1.4% did not support and 7.9% said “in-between”. In the same vein, a majority of the respondents (79.3%) said that they supported stepping up legal control over edible oil even it would possibly lead to an increase in its production cost and price. 2.4% did not support and 16.8% reported “in-between”.
When the respondents were asked if they agreed with the statement that “Since food in Hong Kong is mainly imported, it is difficult to eliminate food safety problems”, about two-fifth (38.1%) said yes and 35.6% reported the opposite. 24.2% answered “in-between”. While 44.7% of the respondents agreed with the statement that “The recent occurrence of food safety scandal is a result of lax regulations”, 18.9% disagreed and 34.8% reported “in-between”. Overall, one-fifth (21.0%) were satisfied with the HKSAR government’s handling of the substandard lard incident, 28.4% were dissatisfied, and 48.3% answered “in-between”.
