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‘Competent but less caring’: How do EU consumers rate food manufacturers?

European consumers score food manufacturers 52% on competence, but only 40% on care, according to a survey by EIT Food.

The second issue of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Food’s Consumer Observatory’s Trust Report 2026 surveyed nearly 20,000 consumers across 18 markets and found just over half (52%) agreed that food manufacturers were competent at what they do: making food.

At a glance:

• EIT’s consumer survey finds overall trust in food manufacturers is up from previous years yet still sits below 50%.
• Some favour the brands they grew up with. This was identified as a challenge for small brands looking to build trust.
• The authors advise companies to double down on transparency, both around ingredients and sustainability documentation.

What consumers were even less sure of, however, was whether these manufacturers were on their side, rating them 40% on care and 39% on openness.

The definition EIT Food used for “care” in this context was “the belief that the actor is motivated to act in a manner that warrants trust”.

Consumers' overall trust in food manufacturers in 2025 (49%) was up from 2022 and 2023 (46%); but, when asked to name organisations they trust and distrust, around half of the names on both lists were food manufacturers and processors, compared to retailers, which featured in approximately 22% of both lists.

‘Profit motives and societal welfare do not always align’

Throughout 2021-2025, consumer perceptions of manufacturers' competence remained stable between 50 and 53%.

Perceptions of care improved from 35-36% between 2023-2024 to 40% in 2025.

Ingredients Network spoke with Klaus Grunert, lead of EIT Food’s Consumer Observatory and professor of marketing at Aarhus University in Denmark.

Asked why consumers were more likely to score manufacturers higher in competence than care, Grunert said: “Profit motives and societal welfare do not always align. Many food companies have invested in social responsibility-related activities, but consumers are not always convinced that a company acts in their best interest.”

Sustainability claims and consumer comprehension

While consumers’ overall confidence in food increased from 44% in 2022 to 48% in 2025, and perceptions of healthiness rose from 43% in 2022 to 47% in 2025, perceptions of food sustainability painted a different picture.

The percentage of consumers who agreed with the statement “food is sustainable” has been consistently below 40% since 2021. In 2025, just over a third (35%) agreed with the statement.

Grunert said that sustainability, compared to healthiness, “is a much more complex phenomenon”.

“Consumers have learned the basics about what is healthy and what is unhealthy, but many consumers are uncertain about what is sustainable and what is unsustainable, not least because sustainability is multidimensional,” he said.

Perceptions of openness are on the rise

Perceptions of openness, like care, still scored below 40%, but also rose from 36% in 2023 to 39% in 2025. This result, the report authors said, marked “the clearest improvement across the determinants and [suggest] that efforts to enhance transparency are beginning to resonate with consumers”.

The report authors' advice to both manufacturers and brands was to double down on transparency, both around ingredients and sustainability documentation. Brands were also advised to bring a touch of humanisation, rather than being faceless corporations, which consumers distrust.

“Showing the people, processes and values behind a brand can reduce distance and build emotional trust – particularly crucial for manufacturers,” the report authors wrote.

Company size vs heritage and nostalgic products

The size of a company cuts both ways for consumers. It was cited as a reason to trust it – and a reason not to.

The authors wrote that, for some consumers, size is linked to profit and a lack of care for its employees and customers, while other consumers trust the big brands they’ve grown up with, giving reasons such as “this name is a childhood memory” or “it has been on the market for generations”.

Grunert believes the key takeaway of this finding is that “size is not a good predictor of consumer trust”.

“Consumers may be more sceptical about large companies, for example, because of a perceived lack of openness, but many large companies have also built brands over decades that consumers trust,” he said.

For the challenger brands looking to build trust, Grunert said: “Brand trust builds over time. All branding research says that. There is no easy shortcut. But having a consistent brand positioning over time that emphasises consumer benefits and delivers them is crucial.”