Clinton or Trump; pesticides or cancer

Liberals and conservatives don’t only disagree on presidential candidates; they also differ on their views about food, according to the International Food Information Council Foundation’s 2016 Food and Health Survey: Consumer Attitudes Toward Food Safety, Nutrition & Health. The survey shows while more liberals (38 percent) name pesticides as their top food safety concern, more conservatives (40 percent) are most concerned about cancer-causing chemicals in food. “Foodborne illness from bacteria” ranked first among both liberals and conservatives (55 percent and 58 percent respectively). However, liberals are far more likely to cite “pesticides” as a top food safety issue (38 percent vs. 24 percent), while conservatives are twice as likely to cite “carcinogens or cancer-causing chemicals in food” (40 percent vs. 20 percent). Those who identify as somewhat liberal (12 percent) are twice as likely as those who are somewhat conservative (6 percent) to cite “food additives and ingredients” as a top food safety issue.