Confidence in safe food declines in the Netherlands

A survey on consumer confidence in food safety in the Netherlands has revealed a more negative picture in 2025 compared to previous editions.

Findings come from the NVWA Consumer Monitor Food Safety 2025 that was done online and questioned 3,500 people.

The survey showed 78 percent of respondents “completely agree” with the statement: “In general, food is safe.” This has fallen 3 percent since the last edition of the survey in 2023. NVWA said the decline is probably because of recent reporting on PFAS in food and several recalls, including one for frozen blueberries. There were 24 people who contracted hepatitis A from contaminated blueberries. They became ill between November 2024 and February 2025 and eight people were admitted to hospitals.

The majority of positively formulated statements, such as “food products are becoming safer,” were rated lower than in 2023. This means negative statements, like “my trust in the safety of food products has decreased over the past six months” have seen an increased response rate.

Main consumer concerns
Market research firm YouGov investigated what consumers are worried about from a list of 30 issues. This revealed people are mainly concerned about microplastics, sugar in food, and hormones in meat. Concerns about food fraud, imports from outside the European Union, and food irradiation have increased but are still low. Consumers are less concerned about bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can cause infections.

For most product groups, there was a fall in consumer confidence. Confidence in the safety of pre-processed fresh vegetables declined the most. As in previous years, people have the most confidence in herbs, fresh fruit and vegetables.

In 2025, 59 percent of consumers believed that sufficient efforts are being made to ensure food safety. This percentage is down slightly from recent years.

Less than half of consumers believe that manufacturers have sufficient knowledge to guarantee the safety of food. There is also low support for statements relating to the honesty and openness of producers about food safety.

Consumer confidence in information from the government and the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) increased slightly compared to 2023.

Recalling recalls and NVWA annual report
Respondents have the most trust in TV programs such as Radar, followed by the Dutch Consumer Association (Consumentenbond), when it comes to information about food safety. They have the least trust in information on social media.

The survey also asked about the recollection of incidents in the past year. It found 29 percent of consumers said they can remember an incident where food safety was compromised or trust was breached. This is higher than in 2023 and 2021, but lower than in 2019 and 2018. NVWA said the widely reported Fipronil in eggs issue in 2017 may explain this difference. The incident most frequently mentioned was the blueberry recall from Albert Heijn due to hepatitis A contamination.

An evaluation report by the NVWA’s Risk Assessment and Research Office (BuRO) will be published later this year. Results of the European Food Safety Eurobarometer 2025 will be included.

NVWA has also published its annual report detailing the main activities from 2024.

The agency received thousands of reports from the public via its customer contact center and website. The top two subjects were related to food and food poisoning.

A total of 36,729 inspections were carried out in 2024, which is more than in 2023. NVWA closed 65 shops and catering establishments because of serious pest infestations. This is almost double the amount from 2023 when 34 companies temporarily closed.

Suspected remarketing of rejected products was a problem again. In 2024, NVWA visited two companies that allegedly traded herbs with high levels of a toxic substance. Unsafe batches put on the market can generate money for the trader but pose a risk to public health. The firms were placed under increased supervision and batches of herbs whose safety could not be demonstrated have been destroyed. The case is being handled by the Public Prosecution Service.

In 2025, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) has allocated a reduced budget for existing supervisory activities of the NVWA.

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