The most important factors for Europeans when buying food are where the food comes from while Croatian consumers are more concerned about food safety, a survey conducted by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) shows.

Almost every second European (55%) is “very aware” of food safety issues, EFSA said based on a survey conducted by the Eurobarometer, EFSA reported on its Web site.

Croatian consumers are above average in that regard because they are more interested in food safety than the average EU citizen, according to the survey conducted in the 28 EU member states. This is the first time Croatia has been included in this survey.

Europeans are aware of the danger of the existence of traces of pesticides in food or other pollutants as well as additives, antibiotics, micro-plastic particles in meat and fish.

For World Food Safety Day, marked on June 7, the UN agencies have highlighted the trust citizens place on governments and producers to keep food safe.

Food safety is a matter that impacts consumer decisions to which food to select and about 50% consider this to be the most important, EFSA said.

In Croatia however, 69% of the respondents said that food safety was the most important factor to impact their decision on what food to buy.

Observing the EU overall, 53% consider the food’s origin to be the decisive factor, followed by price (51%) and taste (49%). Nutritional content is slightly less important (44%).

In Croatia the factors influencing what food to buy is price (63%), origin 58%, Croatia’s Agency for Agriculture and Food (HAPIH) said.

The 2019 Eurobarometer on Food Safety in the EU was conducted on a sample of 27,655 respondents (1,016 from Croatia) from different social and demographic groups interviewed face-to-face in their mother tongue.