The International Food Information Council (IFIC) has released two new research studies revealing a key paradox in consumer behavior: while national debate over food additives and chemical safety reaches an all-time high, overall confidence in the U.S. food supply continues to rise. Rather than signaling consumer indifference, the findings suggest a market where shoppers are becoming more engaged, analytical, and attentive to supply chain transparency.
The first study, the 2026 IFIC Food & Health Survey: A Focus on Food & Ingredient Safety, was conducted between March and April 2026. The second, a targeted IFIC Spotlight Survey, surveyed consumers in mid-August 2026 following a summer marked by major produce recalls and a high-profile Cyclospora outbreak in lettuce.
Comparing data from both periods provides CPG brands, distributors, and food retailers with a clear look at how consumer trust holds up before and after major industry disruptions. Despite a steady stream of safety headlines, consumer confidence did not erode; instead, shoppers demonstrated a growing reliance on personal evaluation and clear ingredient reporting.
“What stands out this year isn’t alarm: it’s engagement,” said Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, MS, RDN, IFIC President and CEO. “More Americans are forming a point of view on food safety against a busy backdrop of recalls, potential regulatory actions, and confounding headlines. That’s the real shift worth paying attention to.”
For food manufacturers and grocery retailers, IFIC’s findings highlight a critical takeaway for 2026: consumer trust now depends less on avoiding public scrutiny altogether and more on proactive communication, clear labeling, and rapid response mechanisms across the supply chain.
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Confidence Rebounds — But The Story Underneath Is More Complicated
After hitting an IFIC Food & Health Survey-low of 55% in 2025, this year 62% of Americans say they are confident in the safety of the U.S. food supply — a seven-point jump that ties the largest year-over-year gain in the 15-year trend. The share who are very confident drove most of it, climbing from 11% to 16%.
That’s the headline number. But the longer view adds nuance: the 5 and 15-year trends show confidence is still six points below its 2022 level and 16 points below the 2012 record high of 78%. And the trend line has been anything but steady in recent years, swinging from 70% in 2023 down to 55% in 2025 before landing back at 62%.
“It would be easy to read a rebound in confidence as ‘people have stopped worrying,’ but that’s not what we’re seeing,” said Reinhardt Kapsak. “People are more engaged with food, including news about food safety, not less — and more willing to form an opinion. What’s striking in 2026 is that Americans are weighing what they hear against what they experience, and both are shaping how they define a safe, healthy food. Confidence and concern aren’t opposites here. They’re rising together.”
Americans’ Top Food Safety Concerns
Asked to rank their top three food safety issues in 2026, Americans most often named:
- Pesticides — 48%
- Carcinogens — 46%
- Foodborne illness — 43%
- Heavy metals — 40%
- Food additives and ingredients — 37%
Foodborne illness stands apart on one measure: it has ranked first or tied for first among Americans’ single most important food safety issue in each of the past three years. And notably, 95% of respondents ranked at least one ingredient- or chemical-related concern in their top three from nine options — a reminder of how central ingredient questions have become.
The Convergence Of “Safe” And “Healthy”
One of the clearest signals across the IFIC Food & Health Survey is how closely Americans’ definitions of safeand healthy track one another. When asked what they rely on to judge each, respondents pointed to nearly identical cues: clear expiration or “use by” dates (48% for safety, 46% for healthfulness), the absence of harmful pathogens (35% safe, 32% healthy), the absence of chemical contaminants (31% safe, 32% healthy), and ingredients they understand and trust (31% safe, 35% healthy).
That overlap matters. It suggests that for many Americans, safety and healthfulness have quietly merged into a single question about whether a food can be trusted — a conflation that increasingly runs through concerns about ingredients and chemicals.
“When people evaluate the safety of an ingredient, presence often outweighs amount,” Reinhardt Kapsak added. “Among those most focused on additives and chemicals, more prioritize whether something is present than how much — 45% versus 33%. That tells us the conversation has shifted from dose to detection, and it has significant implications for how we communicate risk.”
When The Headlines Hit: The Summer Cyclospora Outbreak
If the IFIC Food & Health Survey captured the baseline, the August IFIC Spotlight Survey captured what happens when a food safety story breaks into the mainstream. Awareness of the Cyclospora outbreak was remarkable. Nearly nine in ten Americans (86%) said they had heard about the cyclospora outbreak in lettuce, and attention went well beyond passive awareness.
Awareness translated into action for many. Among those who had heard about the outbreak in lettuce, 38% talked about it in person, 32% searched for more information, and behavior shifted: 30% said they had stopped eating all lettuce, 29% stopped eating iceberg specifically, and 22% cut back on produce more broadly.
Perhaps most telling is what would bring people back. Among lettuce eaters, comfort with eating lettuce was highest when tied to product attributes and official confirmation: 76% would feel comfortable if the lettuce were locally grown, 72% if the FDA confirmed affected product had been removed, and 71% if it were grown in the U.S. Social and marketplace cues carried less weight. Only about six in ten would be reassured by friends and family eating it (62%) or by its availability at their regular grocery store (59%).
“During an outbreak, people don’t reach for reassurance from the people around them — they reach for origin and official confirmation,” said Tony Flood, IFIC Senior Director, Food & Ingredient Safety. “That’s a meaningful insight for anyone trying to rebuild trust. Where food comes from, and what public health authorities say about it, may do more of the heavy lifting than what’s simply on the shelf.”
Why It Matters Now
“Taken together, the two studies tell a story that resists a simple headline. Americans are more confident andmore concerned, more informed and more likely to conflate safety with health. They are forming perceptions from a mix of what they hear and what they experience — and in a year defined by recalls and outbreaks, that mix is shifting in real time,” Reinhardt Kapsak said. “The takeaway is that people are paying attention, and they’re using new criteria to decide what to trust. It’s our job to meet them there, with clear, credible information.”