At TNS BMRB we have undertaken extensive research on food and nutrition, with studies on policy development, evaluation, stakeholder engagement and public attitudes.
We are particularly proud of our Citizens Forums project – which aims to place consumers at the heart of decision making for the Food Standards Agency (FSA). Over the three years of the study, we have built public views into issues as diverse as the FSA strategic plan; rights and responsibilities with regard to diet and health; and interventions to promote food hygiene.
Other examples of our work include:
- Research on school meals in primary schools, monitoring progress towards meeting the new food-based and nutrition-based standards. The survey involves a nationally-representative sample of over 10,000 pupils.
- Work to explore pupils’ views of school meals, involving group discussions with pupils in secondary schools, paired depth interviews with pupils in primary schools and participant observation of school canteens.
- The UK’s largest study to explore public comprehension and use of food labelling schemes in the UK
- An evaluation of the provision of calorie information in food outlets, to explore the practical implications for businesses participating in the pilot phase of a scheme
- The Food and You survey, monitoring attitudes and behaviour around food consumption, healthy eating, food hygiene and food safety among a representative sample of over 3000 adults in the UK
- Work with professional stakeholders – local authorities, consumer groups and industry, to take account of the views of stakeholders in relation to the FSA’s strategic plan 2010-2015