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

Hallman, William K.

Hebden, W. Carl

English

Research Papers in Economics

CHOICES
The magazine of food, farm, and resource issues
4th Quarter 2005 • 20(4) CHOICES 239
A publication of the
American Agricultural
Economics Association
4th Quarter 2005 • 20(4)
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American Opinions of GM Food: Awareness, 
Knowledge, and Implications for Education
by William K. Hallman and W. Carl Hebden
Agricultural biotechnology is a controversial science that
typically involves removing the genes from one plant or
animal and inserting them into the genes of another plant
or animal to exploit beneficial characteristics of the donor
organism (like pest resistance or increased productivity).
Genetically modified crops have been adopted at an
extraordinary rate over the past decade, and this prolifera-
tion of transgenic science, particularly genetically modified
(GM) food, continues to rouse apprehension among many
consumers around the globe. Public policy toward GM
food tends to reflect consumer sentiment and those coun-
tries with strict regulation or bans tend to have constituen-
cies that are against the adoption of such products. Where
disputes over commodity trading are concerned, it is diffi-
cult to name an issue that has created a deeper interna-
tional schism.
The United States is a powerhouse of GM productiv-
ity. The United States is the largest producer of food bio-
technology products, harvesting about two-thirds (63%)
of the world's GM crops. Most of the soy, canola, and cot-
ton, and almost half of the corn produced in the United
States and Canada consist of GM varieties (Pew, 2003a).
Because these crops are the source of some of the most
common ingredients used by American food processors
(such as corn syrup, soy protein, canola, and cottonseed
oil), and because GM varieties are often mixed with ordi-
nary varieties during shipping, processing, and storage,
most estimates suggest that between 60% and 70% of pro-
cessed foods on American shelves contain ingredients
derived at least in part from GM crops (GEO-PIE, 2003). 
The American public, however, is unaware that we use
these products every day. Funded by the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) under its Initiative for
Future Agriculture and Food Systems program, Rutgers
University’s Food Policy Institute conducted three public
opinion surveys (Hallman, Adelaja, Schilling, & Lang,
2002; Hallman, Hebden, Aquino, Cuite, & Lang, 2003;
Hallman, Hebden, Cuite, Aquino, & Lang, 2004) that
found Americans are generally uninformed about GM
food and largely unaware of its presence in the food system
and their own diets. This did not prevent them from offer-
ing opinions and thoughts about the technology, however,
and this article discusses several of these findings. Sam-
pling methodology, sample sizes, and survey instruments
for all three surveys can be found at www.foodpolicyinsti-
tute.org.
Knowledge and Awareness
About three-quarters of Americans are indeed aware that
methods of modifying genes exist (not necessarily in food).
About half of Americans say they have heard or read some
or a great deal about GM foods, but the majority of Amer-
icans have never had a discussion about it, suggesting that
is a topic about which, most people are ill-equipped to
converse.
While the American public may possess a rudimentary
notion that the technology exists and a vague recollection
that it has indeed been used in food, they are largely
unaware of the prevalence of GM ingredients in everyday
food products. Fewer than half of the respondents in the
latest Food Policy Institute (Hallman et al., 2004) study
realized that foods containing GM ingredients are avail-
able in supermarkets and fewer than one in three believed
they had personally consumed GM foods. Though it is
technically possible for one to have avoided eating GM
foods, this would entail a level of specialized knowledge
that the average consumer is unlikely to possess; Ameri-
cans are eating GM foods in massive quantity without
knowing it. There is evidence, however, that awareness has
been slowly and steadily increasing since 2001, and despite
their lack of awareness, U.S. consumers do seem to have a240 CHOICES 4th Quarter 2005 • 20(4)
vague understanding of how long
these products have been available.
Those who were aware that some
products in supermarkets contain
GM ingredients (fewer than half of
the sample) were confused as to
which products are actually available.
While the majority appropriately rec-
ognized the availability of either GM
corn or GM soy products and a little
more than half correctly acknowl-
edged that both are currently on the
market, many respondents incor-
rectly reported that GM rice or GM
chicken are currently available. 
Most striking was the widespread
belief in the availability of GM toma-
toes.
Though tomatoes were the GM
food product most often identified
by respondents as being available in
the marketplace, no GM tomatoes
are currently for sale in the United
States.
It is quite possible that these
respondents were exhibiting an indis-
tinct recollection for the highly visi-
ble Flavr Savr tomato that was exten-
sively marketed by Calgene and
covered widely by the news media
before being removed from the
shelves in 1997 due to production
and transportation problems (Mar-
tineau, 2001). Indeed, when respon-
dents participated in a word associa-
tion exercise in the 2003 study,
tomatoes were often mentioned as
one of the first thoughts or images
they associated with the terms
“genetic engineering” and “genetic
modification.”
It is clear from these studies that
Americans are generally uninformed
about the GM foods they consume
every day, and most have only a
vague understanding of the presence
of GM products in the food system.
This data paints a picture of a con-
sumer who has heard of genetic mod-
ification in some form, understands
that it may be used in foods, but has
no clue as to how, where, why, or in
what products they might find genet-
ically modified material. 
In addition, Americans do not
appear to possess the tools needed to
completely understand and evaluate
the technology or its products. To
assess consumer knowledge, respon-
dents were asked to evaluate a series
of true/false statements designed to
gauge their comprehension of the
basic scientific concepts underlying
the science. These included such
statements as “There are bacteria that
live on wastewater,” and “By eating a
genetically modified food a person’s
genes could also become modified.”
In the most recent FPI study (Hall-
man et al., 2004) study, less than
50% of respondents could provide a
correct answer to more than half of
these questions, and nine out of ten
“failed” the quiz (less than 70% cor-
rect answers). However, Americans
do not overestimate their knowl-
edge. The majority readily admit to
knowing little or nothing at all about
the science.
Media accounts of GM food do
not appear to have had substantial
impacts on American consumers.
Only about one in five Americans
can remember reading or seeing a
news story about GM food and less
than 1% could recall specific details
about a story. When asked directly
about seven stories that had been cir-
culated in the media to some extent
over the past decade, such as the Star-
link corn incident (Kalaitzandonakes,
Marks, & Vickner, 2004), none
seemed to have caught the attention
of many American consumers. 
Americans also know little about
the laws and regulations dealing with
GM food. While most Americans
understand which government bod-
ies are responsible for regulating
these products (FDA, USDA, EPA),
only about a third knew that GM
foods are not required to be labeled,
and three out of four did not know
these products were tested for human
and environmental safety.
Opinions
Considering that American consum-
ers know little about the science,
laws, prevalence, or events surround-
ing GM food, it is no surprise that
they also have uncrystallized and
highly malleable opinions about the
technology. 
Although over the past three
years American opinions toward
plant-based GM food products seem
split between the roughly half who
approve, roughly two in five who dis-
approve, and the one in ten who have
no opinion, the Food Policy Insti-
tute’s study (Hallman et al., 2003)
showed that consumers can easily be
persuaded to change their opinions
when presented with new informa-
tion about benefits and risks. For
example, many of those who said
they are strongly opposed to the tech-
nology said they would buy GM
food products if it reduced pesticide
use (the most common application of
the science).
Previous studies (Hossain &
Onyango, 2004; Macnaghten, 2004;
Pew, 2003b), as well as all three Food
Policy Institute studies (Hallman et
al., 2002; Hallman et al., 2003; Heb-
den et al., 2004) showed that Ameri-
cans are far less approving of the use
of genetic modification techniques
that involve animals, though it
should be noted that animal-based
applications are not currently in use
other than in an experimental con-
text.
A Need for Education
Both proponents and opponents of
the technology believe that there is a4th Quarter 2005 • 20(4) CHOICES 241
need to educate consumers about
GM food, and the good news is that
Americans claim to be a receptive
audience. 
When asked to rate their interest
in several hypothetical television
shows related to GM food, Ameri-
cans replied enthusiastically. These
included such topics as “who regu-
lates and monitors GM food,” “how
GM food might affect the environ-
ment,” “whether GM food will affect
world hunger,” “the potential benefits
of eating GM food on personal and
family health,” “which foods or
brands of food contain GM ingredi-
ents,” “whether genetic modification
affects the cost of food for consum-
ers,” and “whether GM food affects
the farmers' cost of producing food,”
among others. All of these topics
received high ratings of interest from
American consumers, particularly
those topics related to human health.
Respondents claimed to be most
interested in whether there is a
potential for GM foods to harm
humans and whether anyone has ever
fallen ill from eating it. 
While American consumers are
potentially receptive to passively
watching television shows about
these topics, most have never actively
sought information about these
issues. Nine out of ten respondents
said they had never looked for infor-
mation about GM food, suggesting
that the remainder of those who said
they had heard or read something
about it (about one in five) probably
did so as a result of their habitual
media consumption. When asked
where they might go for information,
if they desired it, most respondents
said they would search the Internet
for information, while one in ten
respondents said they would go to
the library for information.
These results suggest that out-
reach via the Internet, where the
majority of discourse about GM food
seems to be contained, has missed the
average American consumer. The
nature of the Internet is such that
one must actively search for informa-
tion to find it, and American con-
sumers typically have not searched
for such information. Successful out-
reach therefore, must also be targeted
at media such as television and news-
papers where the information can be
regularly digested within the context
of consumers’ normal media con-
sumption.
In sum, Americans are unaware
of the presence of GM foods in their
lives and diets and uninformed about
the science, regulation, and events
surrounding it. Americans have not
yet made up their minds about GM
food largely because they have not
yet thought about the issue. This
doesn’t mean that Americans lack
opinions about the issues, or that
they are unwilling to express them.
However, as a whole, American opin-
ions about the technology are weakly
held, poorly formed, and highly mal-
leable. Americans say they are highly
interested in the topic of GM food,
but to date it doesn’t appear to have
been a very high priority for most
consumers. Few have actively sought
information about it, and few have
talked with anyone about the issues.
As such, efforts to educate about GM
foods are most likely to reach an
uninformed and easily influenced
audience: the American food con-
sumer.
For More Information
Gaskell, G., Allum, N.C., and Stares, 
S.R. (2003). Europeans and Bio-
technology in 2002: Eurobarom-
eter 58.0. Brussels: European 
Commission. 
Genetically Engineered Organisms 
Public Issues Education (GEO-
PIE) Project. (2003). GE foods in 
the market. Cornell Cooperative 
Extension. Available online: 
http://www.geo-pie.cornell.edu/ 
(Accessed October 2003). 
Hallman, W.K., Adelaja, A.O., 
Schilling, B.J., & Lang, J.T. 
(2002). Public perceptions of 
genetically modified foods: 
Americans know not what they 
eat. New Brunswick, NJ: Food 
Policy Institute, Cook College, 
Rutgers - The State University of 
New Jersey. 
Hallman, W.K., Hebden, W.C., 
Aquino, H.L., Cuite, C.L., & 
Lang, J.T. (2003). Public percep-
tions of genetically modified 
foods: A national study of Ameri-
can knowledge and opinion. 
(Publication number RR 1003-
004). New Brunswick, NJ: Food 
Policy Institute, Cook College, 
Rutgers - The State University of 
New Jersey.
Hallman, W.K., Hebden, W.C., 
Cuite, C.L., Aquino, H.L., & 
Lang, J.T. (2004). Americans and 
GM food: Knowledge, opinion, 
and interest in 2004. (Publication 
number RR-1104-007). New 
Brunswick, NJ: Food Policy 
Institute, Cook College, Rutgers 
- The State University of New 
Jersey.
Hossain, F., & Onyango, B. (2004). 
Product attributes and consumer 
acceptance of nutritionally 
enhanced genetically modified 
foods. International Journal of 
Consumer Studies, 28(3), 255-
267. 
International Food Information Cen-
ter (IFIC). (2001). US consumer 
attitudes toward food biotechnol-
ogy. Available online: http://
www.ific.org (Accessed July 
2004). 
Kalaitzandonakes, N., Marks, L.A., 
& Vickner, S.S. (2004). Media 242 CHOICES 4th Quarter 2005 • 20(4)
coverage of biotech foods and 
influence on consumer choice. 
American Journal of Agricultural 
Economics 86(5), 1238-1246. 
Macnaghten, P. (2004). Animals in 
their nature: A case study on pub-
lic attitudes to animals, genetic 
modification and ‘nature.’ Sociol-
ogy, 38(3), 533-551. 
Martineau, B. (2001). First fruit: 
The creation of the Flavr Savr 
tomato and the birth of biotech 
foods. London: McGraw-Hill 
Education. 
Pew Initiative on Food and Biotech-
nology (Pew). (2003a). Fact 
sheet: Genetically modified crops 
in the United States. Available 
online: http://pewagbiotech.org/
resources/factsheets (Accessed 
July, 2004). 
Pew Initiative on Food and Biotech-
nology (Pew). (2003b). 34% of 
Americans know something 
about GM foods. Outlook on Sci-
ence Policy, 25(9), 100-101. 
William K. Hallman (hall-
man@aesop.rutgers.edu ) is Director
and W. Carl Hebden is Research
Analyst, Food Policy Institute, Rut-
gers University, New Brunswick,
New Jersey. Research described here
was supported by a grant provided to
the Rutgers Food Policy Institute by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA), under the Initiative for the
Future of Agricultural Food Systems
(IFAFS) grant #2002-52100-11203
‘Evaluating Consumer Acceptance of
Food Biotechnology in the United
States,’ Dr. William K. Hallman,
Principal Investigator. The opinions
expressed in the article are those of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect
official positions or policies of the
USDA, The Food Policy Institute, or
Rutgers University.

American Opinions of GM Food: Awareness, Knowledge, and Implications for Education

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