Chinese people are getting less satisfied and confident in food safety in the country, an official survey showed on Wednesday.

The poll, which surveyed 4,258 people from 59 cities in 2014, was released by a food safety poll center attached to the China Food and Drug Administration.

The survey showed 47.8 percent of the respondents chose “not satisfied” or “very unsatisfied” when asked how they felt toward the state of food safety, higher than 29.7 percent in a 2012 poll.

Only 21 percent of respondents in the latest survey said they were satisfied with current food safety levels in China.

Over half of those polled said they also lacked confidence in the future of food safety.

Excessive levels of heavy metal, food additives, chemicals and pesticides as well as microbial contamination are among the things those surveyed were most concerned about, the survey said. The report said pesticides in vegetables had been greatly reduced since 2005 due to improved standards and better supervision.

The report also revealed that food from Taiwan had the highest level of food safety problems compared to food from other regions in the world. Beverages and bottled water were the two items that often failed to meet quality standards.

Among those surveyed, 2,139 are from urban areas and patronize supermarkets the most, where they believe the food is safest.  

The media are increasingly exposing food safety problems. However, most of the reports come from southeastern China, especially coastal areas, highlighting the lack of transparency, the report said.

Global Times