Health and food safety continue to be important issues and a newly published poll by Harris Interactive shows notable consumer concern and potential sales backlash regarding the safety of fresh food items, including especially meat, poultry, and seafood products. This is yet another factor that could motivate consumers to become more interested in vegetarian foods.

Each year, the Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) surveys U.S. adults about their eating habits in an effort to quantify the U.S. vegetarian population. The 2009 results are in and when asked about which foods respondents never eat, 3.4% are classified as “vegetarian,” indicating they never eat meat, poultry, or fish/seafood.