You are being invited to take part in research carried out by The Social Agency on behalf of the Food Standards Agency, who are funding this research. By completing the consent form, you are agreeing to participate in this research.

What is this research about?

We are undertaking a project to understand how people across the UK prepare and handle raw pet food at home. The work will help the Food Standards Agency update their risk assessment on raw pet food.

Why have I been chosen?

We have invited a range of people who feed their cats and/or dogs raw pet food to get involved. You have been chosen as one of 40 households to take part in the research.

What will this research involve?

The research will involve 2 stages:

1. Using your smart phone to film a couple of occasions when you feed your pet raw pet food, and to take photos of how you store and dispose of raw pet food.

2. Taking part in an online 60-minute interview (via Zoom) with a member of The Social Agency team to explore your views on raw pet food.

Who is running this research?

The Social Agency is an independent research organisation commissioned by Food Standards Agency, who work to protect public health and consumers’ wider interests in relation to food in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. For more details, see here: https://www.food.gov.uk/about-us/who-we-are.

The Social Agency is established to undertake high quality, actionable research for public good. We are a Company Partner of the Market Research Society. For more information about us, you can visit our website: www.thesocialagency.co.uk 

If you have any questions you would like to ask The Social Agency team, please feel free to email us at: social@thesocialagency.co.uk. 

If you have any questions you would like to ask the Food Standards Agency, please submit an online enquiry under the heading ‘general enquiries’ here: Submit an online enquiry

What are the possible disadvantages and risks of taking part?

We are only interested in observing how you store, handle and feed your pet raw pet food. There is a small risk that during filming you may record other activities that take place in your home. Footage capturing children participating in activities related to raw pet food will be analysed by the research team then deleted.

What are the benefits of taking part?

The Food Standards Agency works to keep food safe, and this includes pet food. Raw pet food can carry germs such as Salmonella and E. coli, which can make people ill. The Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland give advice on how to store and handle raw pet food safely at home. This research will help them understand how pet owners use this advice day to day. You are one of many cat and dog owners sharing how you prepare your pet's food. What you tell us will help the Food Standards Agency give clearer, more useful advice to pet owners. It could also help protect people who are more likely to get ill, such as young children, older people, pregnant people and people with weakened immune systems.

As a thank you for your time and contributions, you will receive £110 for completing the diary exercise and taking part in the online interview.

What will happen to the results of the research project? 

The findings from this research will be published upon completion in 2027. The findings may be included in academic papers, government reports and in conferences. We will anonymise the research data so that you will not be identified in any reports or publications.

What are my rights if I take part? 

• It’s totally up to you whether you take part.  

• You don’t have to answer a question if you don’t want to. We’ll be asking you about your views on raw pet food during the interview. We don’t expect you to disclose anything personal, although you can if you want. 

• You have the right to privacy. We don’t share anything that would identify you personally with anyone outside of the project team without your consent. When we write our report, we might use quotes from you, but never with your name. It won’t be possible to identify you from our reporting. 

• You have the right for your data to be held safely. We make sure that the information you provide – including recordings during the diary – is held safely and securely and is interpreted with due care and respect. Once our project is completed, to protect your privacy, we will delete anything with your name, contact details and any recording on 15th March 2027. 

• You have a right to change your mind, or ‘withdraw consent’ at any time.  If afterwards you decide you don’t want us to use what you shared, email us on social@thesocialagency.co.uk by 26th November 2026 (before The Social Agency write the report) and ask us to delete your data.  

• You have the opportunity to ask questions throughout the process, or get in touch if you have concerns or complaints, any time. Just contact The Social Agency using the email address provided.  

What happens to the information I share (or ‘my data’)? 

The Social Agency will ensure any personal data is processed fairly and in compliance with Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). 

All the contact information that we collect about you and your family during the study will be kept confidential and will be stored separately from the research data.  We will anonymise the research data so that people will not be identified in any reports or publications. Information collected will only be used for the purpose of the research as set out in this participant information notice.

Please note that sometimes it is not possible to keep everything confidential. For example, if we were to observe someone harming themselves or others, or disclosing an intention to harm, we would have an obligation to report this to relevant authorities.

We will be video and audio recording the interviews. These recordings will be transcribed to help us analyse the discussions accurately. The transcripts will be anonymised and will not be shared with anyone outside The Social Agency and the Food Standards Agency. All other data you provide during this project will also be anonymised and stored securely. We will not share any personal data with anyone outside the project team.

While our team analyses findings, we also use AI to help us check our analysis and make sure we’ve not missed anything. Any data we ask AI to look at will be fully anonymised. We only use AI that is secure and compliant with the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR.  

We will write a research report that will be shared with the commissioners of this research: the Food Standards Agency. It will also be published online so that other interested people and organisations can read it. This report will not identify you.

For further details on about how The Social Agency uses your information, and your rights when we use information about you, please see our Privacy Notice: 

https://www.thesocialagency.co.uk/privacy-policy  

Criteria Fieldwork will retain your recruitment information for up to 2 years for quality control purposes. For more information about Criteria Fieldwork, please see their Privacy Notice: Privacy Notice | Criteria Fieldwork Limited

Any questions? 

If you have any questions about the information contained in this form, or at any time want to withdraw your consent, please contact social@thesocialagency.co.uk or telephone 07842 314386.