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Australians are more worried about food safety and quality than five years ago, believe what is added to food is harmful to our health, actively try to choose foods with no or fewer additives, believe food processing and pesticides are a major risk and if the price was the same, would prefer to buy organic food, according to the Jalna Australian Food Attitudes Survey, conducted by Newspoll.
Despite the fact Australia’s food supply is one of the safest in the world and is well regulated in every respect from growing to food preparation, we remain concerned about the possibility of negative impacts of food on our health.
 The Jalna Australian Food Attitudes Survey questioned a representative national sample of 1201 adults by telephone and found surprisingly high levels of concern about what we eat every day and that Australians clearly prefer to buy foods with no additives and minimal processing.
The Newspoll Jalna Australian Food Attitudes Survey found:
- 52% reported they are more concerned about the safety and quality of food in Australia compared to five years ago, while only 6% are less concerned.
- Key areas of concern identified as the biggest potential hazards to the safety and quality of our food are food processing, handling and freshness (identified by 35% of respondents); sprays like pesticides plus additives and preservatives (23%) as well as concerns about imported food, particularly because of unknown safety standards and regulations (12%).
- Despite greater awareness of the health implications of too much fat, salt or sugar in the diet, only 3% identified these as the biggest potential hazard to the safety and quality of our food, with similar figures across all age groups.
This is surprising because when asked which ingredients they are very conscious of checking for on labels:
o 76% reported consciously checking for fat content
o 74% consciously checked for sugar content and
o 62% consciously checked for salt content
Australian health concerns
- 73% believe additives and preservatives are generally harmful to your health.
- 79% believe artificial food colourings can cause behavioural or learning difficulties such as attention deficit disorder or hyperactivity in children.
- Not surprisingly, 75% stated they actively try to buy foods that contain no or fewer additives. (78% of main grocery buyers held this view.)
- 59% of respondents believe that many foods contain a high level of pesticide residue, while
- 84% stated that if organic food was the same price as conventional food, they would prefer to buy organic food.
- One significant finding from a nutrition perspective is that Australians are far more concerned about additives than they are about kilojoule content (possibly one of the factors in Australia’s burgeoning weight problems).
Only 46% of respondents reported they are very conscious of checking food labels for the kilojoule content; whereas 63% are very conscious of checking for additives in general; 63% check for preservatives; 59% check for artificial sweeteners; 57% check for artificial colours and 57% check for artificial flavours.
If everyone can be encouraged to start reading labels more carefully to see just what is in what we’re eating, and make healthy choices - like the Jalna yoghourt range - that are as close to the natural source as possible, choosing less processed foods with fewer additives, and lower fat, salt and sugar products, we will be moving in the right direction.
The Jalna Australian Food Attitudes Survey was conducted for Jalna Dairy Foods because Jalna believe Australians are concerned about additives and wanted to establish how important this issue is. Health and wellness is a priority in tough economic times so choosing carefully is important.
If you are looking for healthy, natural foods, you might like to try these recipes:
 Pumpkin, Corn & Vanilla Yoghourt Muffins
Makes 12
1 cup diced Kent or butternut pumpkin, cooked
2 cups self raising flour
1 cup Jalna Low Fat Vanilla Creamy Yoghourt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup (80g) grated cheddar cheese
1 small (100g) zucchini, coarsely grated
1/2 cup finely diced red capsicum
1/2 cup corn kernels
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- Preheat oven to 200ºC (180ºC fan-forced).
- Sift flour into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
- In a separate bowl combine Jalna Yoghourt, egg and oil and whisk until well combined. Stir in cheese, zucchini, pumpkin, capsicum, corn, onion and parsley.
- Pour yoghourt mixture into the flour and fold in gently with a large metal spoon until just combined. Don’t over-mix; the mixture should still be slightly lumpy.
- Spoon mixture into a non-stick 12 hole (1/3 cup/80ml) muffin pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and cooked when tested with a skewer. Stand for 5 minutes before turning onto cake rack to cool.
Tips:
- If not using a non-stick muffin pan, spray or brush with oil or cut 10cm square pieces of baking paper and press into each muffin hole before baking to stop muffins sticking to pan.
- Muffins can be frozen for 1 month.
- You can add diced ham or barbecued chicken to mixture.
- Pumpkin can be boiled, microwaved, steamed or roasted but roasting gives more flavour - spread diced pieces over oven tray lined with baking paper. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon oil and toss to combine. Cook in moderate oven(180ºC or 180ºC fan-forced) for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and leave to cool.
 BerryFruit Yoghourt Bircher Muesli
Serves 4
2 cups rolled oats
160ml orange juice
1 cup Jalna Wildberry Yoghourt On The Go
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup Jalna Low Fat BerryFruit Creamy Yoghourt
1 cup sultanas
100g mixed fresh fruit - sliced bananas, finely diced apple, chopped strawberries and kiwifruit
50g slivered almonds
- Combine rolled oats, orange juice Jalna Yoghourt On The Go, honey and Jalna Yoghourt. Stand for 2 hours or overnight in the refrigerator.
- Before serving, add the fruit and slivered almonds, mix well and serve.
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