Do Americans trust their government to make sure what lands on their dinner tables isn’t toxic? After a summer of recalls – including one tied to the largest cyclosporiasis outbreak in U.S. history – and deep cuts to the federal food safety infrastructure, the answer is increasingly “no.”
That has left people more self-reliant – throwing out food or returning potentially sketchy products to the store – when it comes to avoiding being sickened.
Those are some of the takeaways from a new Gallup poll. For the first time in the nonpartisan organization’s history, a majority – 53% – report having little or no confidence in the federal government’s ability to ensure the safety of the nation’s food supply.
And the 47% who say they have a great deal or a fair amount of confidence plummeted in the last 20 years – it was 85% in 2004.
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Now, recalls are not new.
And it’s perhaps unsurprising that all but three of the largest documented outbreaks occurred in the last three decades. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created PulseNet, the national network to detect them, in 1996. Better detection doesn’t mean more outbreaks, obviously, but it can mean fewer sail under the regulatory radar.
But there are policy implications for the sharp decline in trust. If Americans don’t believe the government can or will ensure food safety, will they believe recalls or other alerts? Will they support efforts to shore up regulations?
Responding to Recalls
Americans rely on the federal government to scrutinize food safety since families, of course, can’t do their own testing for illness-causing pathogens.
But people are increasingly reporting that they have taken steps personally in response to food safety advisories or recalls:
The most common – and the one that has increased the most since 2024 – is avoiding buying certain brands or types of food. Seventy-three percent said they had done this over the past year, up from 53% two years ago.
45% reported throwing out or returning a food product to the store, up from 37% in 2024.
Those behaviors come against the backdrop of increased unease: 42% say they have worried that something they ate may have been contaminated, up from 26% in 2024.
A Partisan Trust Gap
Professed trust in institutions often reflects America’s partisan divide. That’s certainly the case here.
Among Republicans, the number saying they have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the federal government on food safety grew from 50% in 2024 to 62% in 2025 to 70% in 2026 – even amid the many recalls this year.
For Democrats, the proportion expressing trust dropped from 74% in 2024, to 48% in 2025, to 30% this year.
Among independents, the number was 52% in 2024 and 2025 and 46% in 2026.
The splits shifted slightly when Americans were asked if they were very or somewhat confident that food in grocery stores was safe. The latest poll shows 77% of Republicans think so, as do 66% of Democrats, with independents the lowest at 60%.
Just a year ago, Democrats were highest on this question at 80%, well ahead of Republicans at 68%.
Talk, Meet Walk
But a funny thing happened on the way to the register: Bipartisan majorities report increasing concerns and changing shopping habits in the face of food warnings.
In 2024, 52% of Republicans reported avoiding certain brands or types of food, compared to 63% in 2026. Among Democrats, the numbers were 51% in 2024 and 81% now.
But for all the trust GOP respondents express, they aren’t immune to fears they ate something contaminated: 34% say so, up from 25% two years ago.
Yes, that’s lower than the 49% of Democrats who said so in 2026 (up from 20% in 2024).
But it suggests that Republicans’ expressions of trust have been… contaminated by this year’s numerous outbreaks.
Dining and Cooking