Food Biotechnology: A Study of U.S. Consumer Attitudinal Trends 2006

A majority of consumers are confident in the safety of the U.S. food supply and express little to no concern about food and agricultural biotechnology.

72% of consumers say they are confident in the safety of the U.S. Food supply.

59% of Americans avoid some type of food or food product, but none mention biotech foods as one of these items. 82% of Americans stated there is nothing they would like to see added to food labels.

Communicating specific benefits may enhance perception; likelihood of purchasing biotech products increases as awareness increases.

Opinion toward animal biotechnology has increased toward more positive opinions.  Those viewing animal biotech as "very favorable" has increased from 1% to 5%.

59% say impression of animal biotechnology improves when they are told it can improve the quality and safety of food. Nearly half are positively impacted by information regarding increases in farm efficiency (47%), and reduction of environmental impact of animal waste (49%). In addition, more than half (58%) of consumers say they would be likely to buy products from animals enhanced through genetic engineering if the FDA determined they were safe.

16% of U.S. adults feel favorably toward animal cloning, while 56% feel unfavorably.

Regarding the use of cloned animals for breeding purposes, 36% of consumers are neutral compared to the 28% who are neutral toward cloning; 46% are unfavorable.

Fewer consumers state that they are “not at all likely” to purchase foods from cloned animals (30% vs. 35%), compared to 2005, as well as an increase in those who are “very likely” to purchase foods derived from the offspring of cloned animals (9% vs. 4%), with safety assurances from FDA.

 

The majority remain unlikely to purchase foods from cloned animals (58%) or their offspring (59%).