CONSUMER ACCEPTANCE OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS

Empirical Results

Table 3 presents the regression results for the three food products: vegetable oil, salmon,
and corn flake breakfast cereal. The results show that the variables related to Attitude, Perception,
Labeling, Demographic, and Price have significant effects on consumer choices between GM
and non-GM food products. The knowledge and awareness variables, however, appear to be not
statistically significant. Let us discuss these findings in more details.

Attitude- Results indicate that the risk perception of GM foods places an important
impact on GM food consumption, as higher risk perception generates lower GM food
consumption. The percentage of organic food purchase, used as an indicator of attitude toward
risk, is insignificant in the corn flake cereal model but significant in the vegetable oil and salmon
models. Environmental concern of GM foods is also a significant factor determining GM food
consumption, so as religious or ethical concern. Further, the perceived difference between GM
and non-GM food affects the willingness to consume GM foods, implying that if the perceived
difference is not huge, consumers are more willing to consume GM foods.

Perception- Price attribute is a significant determinant for willingness to consume GM
foods, as the respondent’s concern on price tends to induce them to consume more GM food,
which is assumed to be cheaper than their traditional counterpart. Interestingly, those who think
it is most important to reduce saturated fats in GM vegetable oil still tend to consume more non-
GM vegetable oil. On the other hand, those who believe the most important benefit of GMOs is
to reduce pesticide usage tend to consume more GM salmon and GM corn flake breakfast cereal.

Labeling- The opinion on labeling is a significant factor in the salmon and corn flake
breakfast cereal models, showing that the more important the respondents think that GM food
labeling is, the more non-GM salmon and corn flake breakfast cereal they are going to consume.

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