Food illnesses are leading two in three Americans to change buying behavior

The Ipsos Consumer Tracker, fielded on Ipsos' Omnibus platform, asks Americans questions about culture, the economy and the forces that shape our lives. Here's one thing we learned this week.

Why we asked: At the time we fielded this, contaminated lettuce was the culprit of a really unpleasant outbreak of a food-borne illness called cyclosporiasis. We wondered if it was leading to actual behavioral change beyond what we were reading about anecdotally in the news. Since then, the list of food actively making Americans sick has grown to include eggs, pork, jalapenos, blueberries, rice, fruit bars, soups, pistachio nut butter, mini chocolate dipped donuts, and I just got tired of typing but there are more. 

What we found: On the cyclospora outbreak alone, one in three said they were buying less produce at the grocer this summer. Similar numbers were making sure to wash their produce at home. And most importantly, only one in three reported no changes in behavior. This is a topic we’ll come back to soon, as food recalls just keep coming