CONSUMER ACCEPTANCE OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS: THE ROLE OF PRODUCT BENEFITS AND PERCEIVED RISKS

Consumer/Household Economics,

CONSUMER ACCEPTANCE OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS: ROLE OF PRODUCT BENEFITS AND PERCEIVED RISKS

This study examines consumer willingness to consume genetically modified food products with clearly stated benefits and risks. Results suggest that male; white, Southerners, and those with some college education are more likely to consume genetically modified fruits and vegetables. Trust in government, biotech industry, and medical professional on matters relating GM foods also have a positive impact on the willingness to consume GM foods; such trust allays fears associated with risks posed by GM technology. Conversely, risk seems to negatively influence the willingness to consume GM products. Once the respondents are well informed of the risk of the product, this greatly diminished their willingness to consume such products. Older respondents (age above 55 years), those taking time to read food labels, and those with either high or low score on actual knowledge of GM based on a simple scientific quiz, are less enthusiastic toward GM foods. Income, religion and political affiliation did not play any significant role on influencing the willingness to consume GM fresh fruits and vegetables.Consumer/Household Economics,

Consumer Willingness to Pay for GM Food Benefits: Pay-off or Empty Promise? Implications for the Food Industry

Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Agricultural Policy as a Social Engineering Tool

This study uses logistic regression to estimate survey data on social engineering policies in the agricultural sector. The study finds that farm operators are unlikely to support a policy allowing countries to restrict trade to pursue domestic economic and social policy goals if the policies affect international trade. In particular the findings suggest that farm operators with annual gross sales including government payments between $500,000 and$999,999 are 80 percent less likely to indicate such a preference. Farm operators with advanced degrees, some college education and a high school diploma are also unlikely to indicate such a preference. In contrast farm operators who receive no income from farming or ranching and farm operators who receive a percentage of their family income from farming or ranching indicate that countries should be allowed to restrict trade to pursue domestic economic and social policy goals even if the policies affect international trade.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Americans’ Perceptions of Food Safety: A Comparative Study on Fresh Produce and Meat Products

Crop Production/Industries,

MEASURING U.S. CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS USING CHOICE MODELING EXPERIMENTS: THE ROLE OF PRICE, PRODUCT BENEFITS AND TECHNOLOGY

Food biotechnology promises to deliver a wide range of enhanced consumer benefits. This study models consumer's willingness to trade-off the potential risks of GM foods with the possibility of extracting significant benefits. The results of the choice modeling experiments reflect how different attributes of price, product benefits, and technology influence consumer demand for genetically modified food products. The results suggest that direct health, environmental, and production related benefits have a positive effect on choice. The results also generally show that genetic modification is viewed negatively, with use of bacterium and animal based genetic modification being viewed more negatively than the use of plant based genetic modification.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

AN APPLICATION OF CHOICE MODELING TO MEASURE U.S. CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS

Food biotechnology promises to deliver a wide range of enhanced consumer benefits. This study models consumer's willingness to trade-off the potential risks of GM foods with the possibility of extracting significant benefits. It estimates the marginal effects and relationships between product characteristics and consumer attributes on acceptance of GM foods.Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

U.S. Consumers' Willingness to Pay for Labeling Information on Genetically Modified Foods: An Application of Choice Modeling

This study analyzes U.S. consumers' valuation of five types of genetically modified food labels on a cornflakes cereal product. Using a nationwide survey and choice-modeling framework, results indicate that consumers value the label "contains no genetically modified corn" the most with a mean willingness to pay of 20 more cents, followed by "USDA approved genetically modified corn" with a mean willingness to pay of 9 more cents, and "corn genetically modified to reduce pesticide residues in your food" with a mean willingness to pay of 7 more cents. Results also suggest that consumers negatively value the labels "contains genetically modified corn" with a mean willingness to pay of 13 less cents and "may contain genetically modified corn" with a mean willingness to pay of 2 less cents.Consumer/Household Economics,

Purchasing Organic Food in U.S. Food Systems: A Study of Attitudes and Practice

Consumers' preference for organic foods in the context of food aspects considered important in a consumption decision and socioeconomic variables has been examined in this study. The results indicate that food aspects related to naturalness, vegetarian-vegan and production location were critical enhancing regularity of organic food purchases. While the familiarity food aspect was viewed as a 'no' issue as far as organic food purchases are concerned. Results further indicate that females and young people buy organics on a regular basis. In terms of political affiliation and church attendance, the liberals and those who at least visit places worship once a month will also regularly buy organics.Consumer/Household Economics,

Country of Origin Labeling of Fresh Produce: A Consumer Preference Analysis

This paper investigates the relationships between country of origin labeling (COOL) issues and consumers concern about safety and health towards using of foreign produce. Results show that those who were married, self employed, had higher incomes, or possessed more education were more likely to support COOL. A consumer survey showed that about 84% of respondents overall, and more specifically, about 84% of female and 83% of male respondents would like markets to provide information about country of origin of fresh produce. The result also shows that about 73% of respondents regularly read food advertisements in newspapers and grocery brochures.Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade,