Are U.S. Consumers Tolerant of GM Foods?

Abstract

Genetically modified (GM) foods have caused many controversies. One important controversy relates to tolerance?the impurity rate that is tolerated before a commodity must be labeled as genetically modified. Currently, the United States does not have a specific tolerance or threshold level for GM foods. This paper uses experimental auctions to determine consumers? acceptance of non-GM foods with zero, 1 percent, and 5 percent tolerance for genetically modified material. Our results indicate that consumers would pay less for food that tolerates GM material, but the discount is not significantly different for foods with 1-percent and 5-percent GM content. Key words: genetically modified (GM) foods, contamination thresholds, laboratory auctions, nth-price auction, vegetable oil, tortilla chips, russet potatoesgenetically modified foods; GM foods; contamination thresholds; laboratory auctions; nth-rice auction; vegetable oil; tortilla chips; russet potatoes