Food safety has become a major concern for consumers, as well as a
priority for regulatory authorities. Faced with the growing industrial and
domestic use of food additives, many questions are being asked and concerns are
being felt by consumers around the world. Consumer perception defines the
acceptability or rejection of food products, and has an impact on consumption
patterns and behavior. To assess the level of knowledge and perception of food
additives, a pilot study was carried out on a sample of 200 people in Dakar and
Saint-Louis. A questionnaire was used to assess the acceptance or rejection,
use and impact of food additives by consumers in Senegal. The results revealed
several aspects. On the whole, the people surveyed expressed great mistrust and
even rejection of these substances added to food products. This consumer
perception is shared throughout the world, as indicated in numerous surveys. It
also emerges from this study that, although most consumers are aware of the
existence of these additives and their uses in the home, they feel that the use
of these substances in industrial production is too excessive. What’s more,
consumers associate food additives with numerous pathologies such as cancer,
diabetes, hypertension, stroke and even sexual impotence. For some of these
indexed pathologies, scientific studies have reached the same conclusions,
although controversy still persists. On the other hand, for some of the other
adverse effects mentioned, no cause-and-effect relationship has been
scientifically demonstrated. In these latter cases, it seems that negative
communication, misinformation and misconceptions have a major influence on
consumer perception of food additives.
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