Consumer Insights Tracker End of Year Report (Insights From April 2025 to March 2026)

This report presents the findings from the Consumer Insights Tracker which is an online monthly tracking survey commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA). The survey monitors the behaviour and attitudes of consumers aged 16+ in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in relation to food. This report presents an overview of key findings, alongside demographic comparisons, over the full tracking period (July 2023 to March 2026), with a focus on the most recent year of tracking (April 2025 to March 2026). Food prices have been the top prompted concern since tracking began (in July 2023), with little variation in the percentage of respondents concerned about this issue since April 2025. In March 2026, just under one in four (23%) reported feeling worried about themselves personally or their household being able to afford food in the next month. Across the full time series, levels of worry about food affordability have fluctuated within a relatively narrow range (19% in February 2026 – 28% in July 2023). A high percentage of respondents reported engaging in financially motivated food-related behaviours in the past month to save money when prompted. The most common reported behaviours since tracking began (in May 2025) were eating food past its use by date (64% in March 2026) and eating leftovers that had been kept in the fridge for more than two days (60%). Awareness of novel foods and food production techniques varied. For example, in October 2025, around seven in ten said they had heard of lab-grown meat (76%) when prompted, but only around half said they had heard of cell-cultivated meat (52%) and cell-cultivated products (50%). This report also contains findings related to awareness, knowledge and trust in the FSA, food safety information encountered in the last month, and consumer perceptions on other novel foods including precision breeding, precision fermentation and Cannabidiol (CBD) products.