Supermarkets Most Trustworthy Industry: Poll

The Harris Poll’s annual poll of Americans’ perception of how “generally honest and trustworthy” 19 large industries are reveals that supermarkets are still the most trusted. Three in 10 (30 percent) say they have faith in supermarkets, followed by hospitals (28 percent), although both are down eight points from last year.

Only tobacco companies, at a paltry 3 percent, retained the same rating as last year, with all others declining, which the pollsters attributed to U.S. adults overall loss of  "trust in most of corporate America.”

More Regulation for Packaged Foods?

At the other end of the food industry spectrum, just one in 10 respondents (11 percent) said they trusted packaged food companies. Over the past decade that the poll has been conducted by Rochester, N.Y.-based market research firm Harris Interactive, the biggest drops have been 17 points for banks and 12 points for packaged food companies.

When asked which of the 19 industries should be more regulated by government, 24 percent of those polled pointed to packaged food companies, while only 9 percent believed supermarkets needed greater oversight.