Zebra Study: Only Two in 10 Consumers Have Complete Confidence Their Food is Safe to Eat

Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ZBRA), an innovator at the front line of business with solutions and partners that deliver a performance edge, today announced the results of its Food Safety Supply Chain Vision Study. The study highlights the views of consumers as well as food and beverage industry decision-makers worldwide from distribution and warehouses to grocery stores and restaurants around safety, traceability and transparency.

Surveyed consumers reported their top food safety concerns include restaurant kitchen and wait staff hygiene, foodborne outbreaks, illness from contaminated food, and food and beverage recalls. Consumers can be quite unforgiving if they experience a food incident as approximately six in 10 reportedly would never eat at a restaurant again if they contracted a foodborne illness or food poisoning. Slightly more than 80% of surveyed consumers said companies have an important role to play in implementing food safety solutions and an ethical responsibility to ensure the safe handling of their food.  Most consumers (70%) said it is important to know how their food and ingredients are manufactured, prepared, and handled, while 69% agreed knowing how their food is sourced is also important.

Given the increased focus on health and wellness, it’s unsurprising both consumers and industry decision-makers are showing a great level of interest in the source, quality and safety of their food. However, a disconnect exists between what consumers believe and what industry decision-makers think. Almost seven in 10 (69%) decision-makers say the industry is prepared to manage food traceability and transparency, but only 35% of consumers agree. Furthermore, only 13% of consumers felt the industry was extremely prepared today to manage food traceability and be transparent about how food travels through the supply chain, whereas 27% of decision-makers reported feeling this way.  Unfortunately, this is not just a short-term challenge as approximately half (51%) of surveyed food and beverage decision-makers said meeting consumer expectations will remain a challenge in five years.

“Findings from our study show that while the industry is taking measures to ensure a more transparent supply chain, more work needs to be done in order to increase consumer confidence and improve food traceability,” said Deep Agarwal, Regional Sales Director of India, Zebra Technologies. “Businesses naturally have more information available to them but can improve consumers’ faith in their food sources by providing them access to the same information.”

One bright spot identified in the research is the role that technology can play in closing both these gaps in both the short- and long-term.  An overwhelming majority (90%) of decision-makers acknowledged that investments in traceability-focused solutions will provide them with a competitive advantage by enabling them to meet the expectations of consumers. When asked about the top benefits that technology-based track and trace solutions would provide, nearly six in 10 decision-makers cited risk reductions with proper handling, transportation and storage and tracking product perishability. 41% of industry decision-makers reported RFID tags improve food traceability within the supply chain more than any other technology, yet only 31% currently use them within their own organizations.

Mobile computers and tablets, mobile barcode label printers, scanners and specialty labels and tags will also be key enablers in winning consumer trust and delivering more transparent information to consumers.

Approximately 90% of surveyed industry decision-makers expect to use rugged handheld mobile computers with scanners, barcode scanners and mobile barcode label printers within the next five years to digitally manage and track food products and related information.

“Zebra offers a portfolio of solutions that transform the food supply chain from farm to fork,” said Aik Jin, Tan, Vertical Solutions Lead, Zebra Technologies Asia Pacific. “Businesses can choose from basic track and trace solutions by pairing up of the likes of the ZQ511 and ZQ521 mobile printers with the CS60 Series companion scanner for barcode printing and scanning. Otherwise, they can opt for RFID solutions by pairing up the likes of the ZQ511 and ZQ521 RFID mobile printers that produce RFID-enabled labels with handheld RFID readers and RFID-enabled scanners. By doing so, businesses will be empowered with real-time visibility that takes their track and trace efforts to a whole new level.”

KEY REGIONAL SURVEY FINDINGS

Asia-Pacific

* 93% of surveyed food and beverage decision-makers believe their companies have an ethical responsibility to ensure the safe handling and management of food.

* Nearly three-quarters (73%) of consumers listed illness and deaths caused by contamination as their biggest concern for risks posed by the food supply chain.

* 89% of industry decision-makers believe investments in traceability-focused solutions would provide their companies with a competitive advantage.

Europe

* Only 15% of surveyed consumers completely trust food and beverage distributors to ensure the food and beverages are safe for public consumption.

* More than six in 10 (62%) consumers listed a foodborne outbreak as their top concern for food-related issues.

* Approximately half (53%) of surveyed industry decision-makers completely agree their companies have an ethical responsibility to ensure the safe handling and management of food – the lowest of any region.

Latin America

* Almost nine in 10 (87%) consumers cite restaurant kitchen staff hygiene as their top concern for food-related issues.

* The vast majority (97%) of surveyed industry decision-makers believe investing in food safety and traceability technology will provide their companies with a competitive edge.

* Seventy-nine percent of consumers responded that having access to accurate information on where their food came from was important to them.

North America

* The average trust level in companies and brands to ensure food and beverages are safe for public consumption is two and a half times higher in industry decision-makers (45%) than consumers (18%).

* 91% of surveyed food and beverage decision-makers believe their companies have an important role in implementing food safety solutions.

* More than six in 10 (64%) consumers cite fear of foodborne illness/disease as their primary reason for wanting more information about their food source.

SURVEY BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY

Zebra’s Food Safety Supply Chain Vision Study included approximately 4,957 consumers and 462 food and beverage industry decision-makers in the manufacturing, transportation & logistics, retail and wholesale distribution markets in North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Europe who were interviewed in January 2020 by Azure Knowledge Corporation.