Food Protection Trends - July/August 2019 - 325

and its agencies. This, coupled with the opinion that food
contamination is generally seen as occurring before food
reaches the home, highlight a potential aspect of recall
fatigue - optimistic bias. These trends were true across
all respondents rather than specific to any one particular
demographic. These results are in line with those of other
studies that have investigated optimistic bias in food safety
(20). Consumers who do not believe they are at risk of
contracting foodborne illnesses as a result of improper storage
or handling practices in the home are more likely to neglect
taking the necessary precautions to mitigate these risks. There
is thus a need to better communicate the risks associated with
improper storage and handling of food in the home.
To our knowledge, this is the first cross-national survey to
examine potential symptoms of recall fatigue in Canadian food
consumers. Although this survey reached a wide variety of
Canadians, across various demographic and socio-economic
categories, the results are not fully representative of the
Canadian population. Our data is also limited to Canadians,
and inferences therefore cannot be made regarding consumers
in other countries. However, despite these limitations, this
study yielded interesting results that can form the basis of future
research on recall fatigue and on perceptions of responsibility
for food safety. Further, research on communication methods
and their impacts on different demographic subgroups could
potentially mitigate the risk of foodborne illness in those groups

most likely to demonstrate optimistic bias or to lack access to
traditional information sources.
CONCLUSION
This exploratory study examined at the Canadian food
recall system from the consumer perspective. Although
Canadians generally have some knowledge of food recalls,
they are not retaining information about all food recalls. They
are confident in the current system, but this confidence has
come with some potential consequences; they largely see
themselves as removed from the food safety system, placing the
responsibility for protecting people from food contamination
on others, namely the federal government. Despite the fact that
foodborne illness can originate in the home, the majority of
Canadians believe that such illinsses are more likely to occur
because of something that occurs before food reaches their
homes. The combination of apparent information overload,
optimistic bias and inaccurate risk assessment regarding
food recalls puts Canadians at risk of recall fatigue. However,
opportunities exist to combat these symptoms, as Canadians
place a high degree of trust in traditional news media sources,
the place where most consumers get their information about
food recalls. Future research is needed to better understand
how Canadians react to recalls and to identify the messaging to
which consumers respond.

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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/dec/17/us-drivers-struggle-with-recall-fatigue-driving-dangerous-cars https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/dec/17/us-drivers-struggle-with-recall-fatigue-driving-dangerous-cars https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/dec/17/us-drivers-struggle-with-recall-fatigue-driving-dangerous-cars http://inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/completelisting/eng/1351519587174/1351519588221?ay=2012&-fr=0&fc=0&fd=0&ft=2 http://inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/completelisting/eng/1351519587174/1351519588221?ay=2012&-fr=0&fc=0&fd=0&ft=2 http://inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/completelisting/eng/1351519587174/1351519588221?ay=2012&-fr=0&fc=0&fd=0&ft=2 http://inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/completelisting/eng/1351519587174/1351519588221?ay=2012&-fr=0&fc=0&fd=0&ft=2 http://inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/completelisting/eng/1351519587174/1351519588221?ay=2012&-fr=0&fc=0&fd=0&ft=2

Food Protection Trends - July/August 2019

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