April 7/Marlborough, Mass./PRWEB -- USFoodSafety.com, a website to provide consumers with the up-to-date food safety alerts, recalls, advice and columns, announced the results of a consumer survey about restaurants. The survey addressed how restaurant cleanliness influenced consumers dining decisions.

Over 70% of survey takers cited food quality and taste as the primary reasons for choosing a restaurant. Only 15% selected sanitation as a factor in their restaurant choice. Nearly 54% of respondents stated that they avoided looking into the food prep area for fear of what they might see.

While consumers ultimately chose food over cleanliness, sanitation was still a concern. In a follow-up question, more than 99% of those surveyed said restaurant cleanliness was important and would stay away from a restaurant if they felt it was not clean. More than 70% of the respondents dined at restaurants at least once a week. For full survey results, visit www.usfoodsafety.com

From the April 8, 2011, Prepared Foods' Daily News