Sep 21, 2020

Consumers concerned about pesticides, uninformed on glyphosate, survey says

A survey commissioned by One Degree Organic Foods shows a gap between awareness and concern when it comes to one of the world’s most widely used pesticides – glyphosate.

The survey of Canadian and American consumers commissioned by One Degree Organics was conducted Feb 10-11 among a demographically representative sample of 2,008 U.S. and Canadian adults (979 men and 1,029 women) through Engine’s Online CARAVAN omnibus survey.

The survey found the majority (78%) of North Americans are not familiar with glyphosate even though it can be detected in some of the most popular oat-based cereals and foods, including those often marketed to children, according to a press release from One Degree Organic Foods. Still, 93% of respondents were concerned once learning more about the research from the Environmental Working Group that found glyphosate in every sample of these popular oat-based breakfast foods that they tested.

The survey also found that while fruits and vegetables are high on consumers’ watch-out foods for pesticides – 89% of consumers look for labels to limit exposure – awareness is lower 49% in the grains category despite the fact that glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in U.S. agriculture and used on more than 100 food crops, including oat-based products like cereals and bars, according to the news release.

“While consumers are passionate about limiting pesticides in their foods most Americans and Canadians are unaware of what glyphosate is,” co-founder of One Degree Stan Smith, said in the news release. “So, as food makers, we need to give them the tools and information to know the facts.”

When it comes to transparency, 93% of respondents thought food companies should disclose if their ingredients are sprayed with glyphosate during growing, according to the news release.

“While we don’t want to scare them, we hope people take this information and join us in the movement to remove glyphosate from our food production system entirely, bettering both our health and the health of our planet,” Smith said.

One Degree Organic’s food products have the third-party-verified BioChecked Non-Glyphosate Certified Seal, according to the news release.