FDA FSANS Survey Tracks Food Safety and Nutrition Habits

TL;DR: The FDA's Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) is the national probability survey tracking U.S. consumer knowledge, attitudes and practices on food safety and nutrition to guide regulation and education.

What FSANS is and why FDA runs it

The Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) is described by the Food and Drug Administration as a national probability consumer survey designed to assess awareness, knowledge, understanding and self-reported behaviors on food safety and nutrition topics, according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page.

Findings are intended to help FDA make better-informed regulatory, education and other risk-management decisions aimed at promoting and protecting public health, according to the same Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page.

The agency calls FSANS the primary source of information in the nation about food safety and nutrition knowledge, attitudes and practices, according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page. The survey helps the Food and Drug Administration develop educational materials and programs to better serve the American people.

Information provided by respondents will be used to monitor views about food and nutrition, according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page. It will also be used to track changes in knowledge, attitudes and practices related to food and nutrition.

A third stated use is to develop new food safety and nutrition educational programs, according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page. Together, monitoring, tracking change and program development form the policy loop for the Human Foods Program.

How households are chosen and what participation means

Addresses for FSANS were randomly selected from a list of all residential mailing addresses in the nation, according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page. Selection used scientific sampling methods to represent households in the United States.

The chances of being selected are described as small, according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page. Once selected, a household represents thousands of other households like it, because everyone cannot be included.

Answers and opinions are described as very important to the success of the survey, according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page. Representation is the reason a single completed questionnaire carries weight for similar households.

Participation is voluntary, according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page. A person may choose not to answer any or all questions, and there are no penalties for not participating.

The survey will take 15 to 20 minutes to respond, according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page. That time estimate frames the burden for invited households considering the request.

Answers will be kept private under the Privacy Act, according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page. Answers cannot be linked to information that could identify a person or household and will be kept secure to the extent permitted by law.

Sponsor, contractor and federal approval

The Food and Drug Administration is sponsoring the survey, according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page. Westat has been contracted to conduct the survey.

The survey has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget, the office that reviews all federally sponsored surveys, according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page. The approval number assigned is 0910-0345.

A name provided for the survey will not be sold to any third-party organizations, according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page. That assurance appears alongside the federal approval information.

Westat is identified as a research company located in Bethesda, Maryland, according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page. Westat is conducting the survey under contract to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Questions about the survey can go to Westat toll-free at 1-833-307-2550 or at [email protected], according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page. The page presents the same contact and approval details in Spanish for Spanish-language readers.

The Spanish-language section identifies the survey as Encuesta sobre la seguridad de los alimentos y la nutrición and repeats the purpose, uses, sampling, voluntary status, privacy, 15 to 20 minute timing, sponsor, contractor, approval number 0910-0345 and Bethesda location, according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page. Inclusion of that section extends the invitation and instructions to Spanish-speaking households.

Why survey methods matter for nutrition conclusions

Survey wording, coding and weighting shape what agencies can claim about consumers, a point underscored by new methods work shared on May 21, 2026. Westat researcher Emily Diaz, PhD, Senior Research Associate for Education and Social Policy, is lead author of an article on increasing generalizability of open-ended survey item responses, according to the Westat article Drawing Reliable Data From Open-Ended Responses.

The article appeared in Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation (PARE) and tackles how to draw reliable, population-level conclusions from open-ended responses, according to Drawing Reliable Data From Open-Ended Responses. Open-ended responses can offer rich, unanticipated insights, but text format makes them difficult to analyze and generalize, especially when higher burden leads to more skipped questions.

Authors present a practical method for coding open-ended responses into numerical data and applying survey weights to improve representativeness, according to Drawing Reliable Data From Open-Ended Responses. Demonstrated in a stratified random sample with nonresponse, the approach helps account for bias while preserving qualitative value.

That methods context is relevant because FSANS asks about awareness, understanding and self-reported behaviors, where respondents may use their own words, and because FSANS itself uses scientific probability sampling with weighting logic implied by representation claims. The Westat methods note provides guidance for more rigorous and generalizable use of open-ended findings and for bridging qualitative insight and quantitative inference.

What the UK tracker shows about affordability and risk behavior

A parallel consumer monitoring effort in the United Kingdom illustrates the kinds of trends FSANS is built to detect over time. The Consumer Insights Tracker is an online monthly tracking survey commissioned by the Food Standards Agency, monitoring behavior and attitudes of consumers aged 16 and over in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, according to Consumer Insights Tracker (January 2026 – March 2026).

Each month the survey is conducted with approximately 2,000 consumers, according to Consumer Insights Tracker (January 2026 – March 2026). The report presents findings for January to March 2026 for regularly tracked topics including concerns, affordability and trust, plus precision breeding in March and precision fermentation in February.

Almost one in four respondents, 23%, were worried about being able to afford food in March 2026, according to Consumer Insights Tracker (January 2026 – March 2026). That was comparable with January at 21%, but slightly higher than February at 19%.

Eating food past its use-by date at 64% in March and eating leftovers kept for over two days at 60% in March were the most commonly reported money-saving behaviors across the quarter, according to Consumer Insights Tracker (January 2026 – March 2026). Eating leftovers after two days was reported more frequently in January at 68%, when respondents were referring to behavior in December.

In March 2026, food prices at 91% remained the top concern, followed by ultra-processed food at 77% and food waste in the food chain at 77%, according to Consumer Insights Tracker (January 2026 – March 2026). The ranking places price well above other food issues.

The proportion reporting seeing or hearing information about recalls, contamination incidents and poisoning outbreaks increased in February 2026 compared with other months in the quarter, according to Consumer Insights Tracker (January 2026 – March 2026). For example, 44% said they had heard about recalls, versus 34% in January.

In March 2026, 13% had heard of precision breeding, but only 5% reported knowing what it is, according to Consumer Insights Tracker (January 2026 – March 2026). That was slightly lower than September 2025 at 16%, but comparable with March 2025 at 13%.

In February 2026, 20% had heard of precision fermentation before and 15% had heard of precision-fermented dairy, according to Consumer Insights Tracker (January 2026 – March 2026). Over two in five, 44%, were unwilling to include it in their diet, compared with 26% willing, broadly in line with August 2025.

Method details show 2,201 people took part in January from the 2nd to the 5th, 2,170 in February from the 6th to the 9th and 2,101 in March from the 6th to the 9th across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, according to Consumer Insights Tracker (January 2026 – March 2026). Research was conducted online using the YouGov panel with access to 400,000 active panel members in the UK, with quotas by age, gender, social grade, education and region and weighting to be representative, with differences assessed by t-tests where p is less than 0.05.

What industry data add on traceability and capacity

On the supply side, a May 19, 2026 industry survey highlights why consumer surveillance and facility controls are being discussed together. CRB Group released its 2026 Horizons: Food Safety report based on responses from more than 300 North American food and beverage manufacturers, according to the CRB Horizons Report Reveals Food and Beverage Manufacturers release.

The report highlights a shift from fragmented, paper-based systems to real-time, end-to-end digital traceability driven by Food Safety Modernization Act Section 204, according to the CRB Horizons Report Reveals Food and Beverage Manufacturers release. Manufacturers are now expected to produce traceability data within 24 hours of a regulatory request.

More than 70% of respondents say they plan to invest in automation and control systems over the next three years, according to the CRB Horizons Report Reveals Food and Beverage Manufacturers release. Compared with last year, a growing share now expect it will take more than four years to reach target automation levels.

Horizons: Food Safety is described as CRB's annual industry report, now in its sixth year, covering priorities, challenges and strategies, according to the CRB Horizons Report Reveals Food and Beverage Manufacturers release. The 2026 edition covers company sizes from emerging brands to global enterprises and is available as a free download.

For nutrition readers, the link is practical: consumer surveys capture handling, affordability pressures and awareness gaps, while traceability and hygienic design determine how quickly a hazard can be located and removed. FSANS supplies the consumer-behavior side of that equation for U.S. regulators and educators.

Households invited to FSANS are therefore asked to treat the 15 to 20 minute questionnaire as the mechanism by which their views enter regulatory, education and risk-management decisions, according to the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS) page. Participation remains voluntary and private, but each response stands in for thousands of similar homes.