Consumers, hungry for deals and discounts on food purchases are increasingly turning to online tools, according to Deloitte's 2010 Consumer Food Safety Survey.
The surveys pertained to consumer habits and attitudes toward grocers and restaurants.
"In terms of the survey, it would be up to the respondent to define 'food company' so they might have thought of it as a grocer or restaurant or manufacturer," said spokesperson Allyson McKenney.
The survey found that 33 percent of respondents subscribed to receive e-mails, recipes or coupons directly from foodservice companies, a six percentage point increase from the corresponding results of last year's survey.
They're also hungry for nutrition stats: About 23 percent of respondents said they have visited a foodservice company's website to research product information, while 23 percent also made a food purchase as a result of something they read online. In line with 2008 results, 36 percent of consumers said they have visited a foodservice company's website to get recipes, compared with 35 percent in 2008.
Mobile phones increasingly play into these food-bargain and information-hunting occasions. Seven percent of people who took the survey have used their mobile/smart phone while in a store to compare prices (53 percent), get or redeem coupons or discounts (44 percent) and obtain nutritional information (28 percent).
And when it comes to bargain hunting, men are more aggressive and, according to survey respondents, use their mobile devices more than women to compare prices (59 percent to 49 percent) and obtain/redeem coupons/discounts (53 percent to 38 percent).
Women, on the other hand, are more focused on using their mobile devices for receiving further nutritional information (36 percent to 18 percent).
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