WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans’ confidence in the federal government’s ability to ensure the safety of the U.S. food supply has reached a record low in Gallup’s trend dating back to 1999. The 57% of U.S. adults who now say they have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in the government to keep the food supply safe is down 11 percentage points from Gallup’s prior reading in 2019.

Roughly eight in 10 Americans expressed faith in the government to ensure food safety in Gallup measures from 1999 to 2006. After a massive salmonella outbreak in 2007, about seven in 10 remained confident. Americans’ confidence stayed near that level in 2008 and 2019 before dropping this year.

These data were collected as part of Gallup’s annual Consumption Habits poll, conducted July 1-21.

While 57% express at least a fair amount of confidence in the government to keep food safe, 28% of Americans do not have much confidence and 14% have “none at all.”

Among partisans, Republicans’ confidence has dropped the most since 2019, which could largely reflect the party of the incumbent president then (Republican […]

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