Washington, D.C.
September 20, 2007
Consumer familiarity and overall impression of food
biotechnology remains little changed from a year ago in the
United States, amidst major concern over food safety. According
to a survey commissioned by the
International Food Information Council (IFIC), there was
little change in the American public’s perception of food
biotechnology, and those who have an opinion are twice as likely
to have favorable-as opposed to unfavorable- impressions.
“The public’s attitudes about food biotechnology remained
constant despite a year of tremendous media attention on food
concerns” said IFIC President and CEO David Schmidt. The
national survey represents the 12th time IFIC has commissioned a
survey on public attitudes about food biotechnology since 1997.
Confidence in U.S. Food Supply
Overall confidence in the food supply remained at a high level
with 69 percent of Americans indicating they were “very” or
“somewhat” confident in the food supply compared to 72 percent
last year. However, the number of Americans selecting “very
confident” decreased from 21 percent in 2006 to 15 percent this
year.
A sizeable number of Americans (25 percent) cited no particular
food safety concern. Of the three-quarters of respondents who
listed a specific food safety concern, disease and contamination
topped the list at 38 percent; however, the biggest increase was
in the “source” category, where concern about country of origin
caused this category to rise from 6 percent of those citing a
specific concern with the food supply in 2006 to 20 percent this
year. Handling and preparation decreased as a food safety
concern, cited by 26 percent of those citing a specific concern
this year, dropping nine percent from last year’s survey.
Animal Biotechnology
While the public’s overall favorable impression of plant
biotechnology remained little changed in the past year,
favorable impressions of animal biotechnology increased from 19
percent in 2006 to 24 percent this year. Nearly half of
Americans (46 percent) said they were “somewhat” or “very”
likely to buy meat, milk and eggs from cloned animals if the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined they were safe.
When the phrase “from cloned animals” was replaced with “from
animals enhanced through genetic engineering” the number of
Americans who were “very” or “somewhat” likely to buy these food
products jumped to 61 percent. Both of these figures show an
increase from the 2006 survey.
Increased awareness of potential positive impacts of animal
biotechnology continues to correlate with increased support
among consumers. Two-thirds of consumers (66 percent) said they
had a positive impression of animal biotechnology when informed
that “animal biotechnology can improve the quality and safety of
food,” up from 59 percent in 2006. More than half of Americans
(53 percent) reacted positively to the statement “animal
biotechnology can increase farm efficiency,” up from 36 percent
in 2005 and 47 percent in 2006.
Labeling
Satisfaction with current information on food labels remained
high in 2007. Only 16 percent of consumers mentioned information
they felt was missing, with less than one percent specifically
mentioning biotechnology.
FDA requires special labeling only when the use of biotechnology
introduces an allergen, or when it substantially changes the
food’s nutritional content. Well over half of those polled (61
percent) “strongly” or “somewhat” support the FDA labeling
requirements for food produced using biotechnology, while 24
percent were “neutral” which was unchanged from last year’s
survey.
Sustainability
This year, IFIC included questions about “sustainability” in the
food biotechnology survey for the first time. Although Americans
use a variety of terms to describe “sustainability,” 83 percent
equate the term to “long-lasting” or “self-sufficiency.” Close
to three-quarters of Americans (70 percent), however, say they
have heard “nothing” about sustainable food production. When
sustainability was defined as a method to “operate in a manner
which does not jeopardize the availability of resources for
future generations,” 63 percent of Americans said they thought
it was important. In a question where consumers were asked to
rank 5 factors related to growing crops in a sustainable way,
the factor ranked number one was “increasing the production of
food staples in the world, thereby reducing world hunger”, with
“reducing the amount of pesticides needed to produce food”
coming in second. Other eco-friendly factors like rainforest
conservation and reducing green house gas emissions ranked
lower.
Methodology
IFIC commissioned Cogent Research to conduct the 12th in a
series (1997-2007) of quantitative assessments of U.S. adult
consumer attitudes toward food biotechnology from July11- 27,
2007. The survey had a sample size of 1,000 and the data were
weighted on age and education to be nationally representative.
For additional information on the food biotechnology survey, or
to schedule an interview with an expert please call the IFIC
Media Team at 202-296-6540.
The International Food Information Council's (IFIC's) mission
is to effectively communicate science-based information on food
safety and nutrition to health and nutrition professionals,
educators, journalists, government officials and others
providing information to consumers. IFIC is supported primarily
by the broad-based food, beverage and agricultural industries.
IFIC materials can be found on our Web site:
http://ific.org. |
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