Young Brits think bacon comes from wheat

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

If you think young urbanites in Ontario don't understand where their food comes from, take heart. It's worse in Britain.

More than a third of those between 16 and 23 surveyed in Britain don't know bacon comes from pigs. Eight per cent think bacon comes from wheat. Another two per cent think it is derived from corn.

The newspaper Independent Online says the survey was commissioned by Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF), a British charity that promotes environmentally sustainable farming and education, usually of farmers. It also has its seal on products in stores. The polling firm OnePoll surveyed 2,000 British adults between May 11 and 14. According to the poll, three in 10 adults born in the 1990s hadn't visited a farm in more than 10 years.

One per cent thought butter came from pigs. One in five thought jam and marmalade came from cereal crops. Less than a third knew milk came from a cow.

Apparently knowledge about food increases with age. "While 24 per cent of all respondents knew that salad dressing could come from rapeseed oil, only six per cent of young adults were able to make the connection." BP