French veg

Almost seven out of 10 French people consider vegetables to be totally safe to eat, according to a recent poll conducted by BVA for French interprofessional organisation Interfel.

The poll, conducted in the wake of the E.coli outbreak, also found that, of the three out of 10 people to mistrust vegetables, women and professionals were the least trusting.

Interestingly, the poll shows that the proportion of mistrusting people falls from over a third to 22 per cent when the vegetables are domestically grown.

The poll also discovered that 99 per cent of French shoppers considered fruit and vegetables to be good for their health, an opinion shared by all, regardless of sex, age or income.

It found that during the E.coli crisis, more than three-quarters of consumers continued to eat cucumbers, which were initially, and falsely, blamed for the outbreak.