Day 032 - 06 Oct 94 - Page 30
1 forthright individual?
2 A. Yes, it was one forthright individual, but it may well
3 have reflected 295 others!
4
5 MS. STEEL: Just going back to page 25, at the bottom there is
6 a reference to -----
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Is this the information point?
9
10 MS. STEEL: Yes, I thought it was this survey but I am not
11 sure whether it is the MAFF survey, do you know, regarding
12 labelling?
13 A. The last two paragraphs refer to the MAFF survey.
14
15 Q. Which showed that people were concerned about ingredients?
16 A. Indeed.
17
18 Q. Half the respondents said they would like more information
19 and the majority would like this information to come from
20 food labels?
21 A. Yes.
22
23 MR. MORRIS: We were going to bring up labelling a bit later
24 on, but is there anything -- we have not got this
25 particular MAFF survey. Do you recall reading a copy of
26 it?
27 A. Not sufficiently to be able to answer factual
28 questions, I fear. They would have done a more structured
29 cross sectional survey of the population than obviously
30 this Peckham survey was.
31
32 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Did Miss Carruthers write the discussion?
33 A. Yes.
34
35 Q. She wrote the summary and the introduction?
36 A. Yes.
37
38 Q. Because, if I may say so, the last paragraph on page 25
39 sounds as if she is arguing with people that there is a
40 fairly high level of consumer concern regarding a healthy
41 diet but, in fact, putting it in different phrases, less
42 than 25 per cent of women, albeit not much less, were
43 concerned about ingredients, and less than 10 per cent of
44 men showed very much concern about ingredients. I have to
45 say I am surprised that it was so low even in the middle
46 80s.
47 A. Well, that was 1982 and I agree it does seem low. I
48 would suggest that such concerns probably had risen,
49 particularly amongst women and parents, in the last
50 decade; that there has been a lot of media discussion
51 about food issues and additive issues and so forth. And
52 that a new survey, I would imagine, would reflect a
53 greater interest now than there had been then.
54
55 MR. MORRIS: We will go on to labelling a bit later. Is there
56 anything else you would like to say on this particular
57 survey?
58 A. Well, in that discussion at the end, our concerns were
59 primarily what type of tactic might best be used if one
60 were to alter the dietary patterns of people consuming
