According to a new report from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, although Americans do find GMOs, antibiotics, sustainability and transparency important, they are most concerned with affordability, nutrition and food safety. This survey found that Americans care a great deal about how their food is produced: a full 78 percent of Americans say they are “very” or “somewhat” interested in how the food they buy makes its way to their plates.

In particular, the report found:

• Americans want food producers to prioritize food safety most of all, followed by nutrition and affordability. When asked which issues Americans believe food producers prioritize and what issues they believe those producers should prioritize, perceptions fall short of expectations by more than 50 percentage points on food safety and nutrition.
• A majority of Americans name affordability and nutrition as very important issues concerning the food they buy, followed by a third of Americans who say buying non-GMO and antibiotic-free food is very important to them.
• Americans trust health professionals, friends and family, farmers, scientists, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) most when it comes to information about their food. They trust documentaries to a lesser degree and the food industry (grocery stores, food companies, food packaging) and media (both social and traditional) least of all.

The survey points to much of the food conversation being “hype” around want consumers want. Only three-in ten surveyed say they consider non-GMO or antibiotic-free to be very important food traits, and even fewer were concerned about food being organic, from a family farm, or locally produced.

Author Marcus Glassman writes, “These results suggest that the public discourse on these hot-button topics may be more noise than substance.”